How To Nab A James
by unopeneddoors
Summary: Something's different about James Potter and it's almost definitely to do with the fact that Lily's dating his biggest competition; Amos Diggory. But now Lily's out of the picture and the other girls are up for the chase; will Lily get jealous?
1. The Pact

**_Disclaimer: Just to be safe :P I don't own/ have not created these characters or the Harry Potter franchise (Duh) But I wish I had :(_**

There was most definitely something different about James Potter. He barely smiled, he never laughed and his attention span was shorter than ever, so much so that his best friend Sirius Black was often seen shooting him concerned sideward glances when he wasn't looking. The reason for this strange behaviour however, was not unknown; Lily Evans, the girl James had chased for many a year was officially Amos Diggory's girlfriend. It was bad enough that James would finally have to come to terms with the fact that he would never be with Lily, but the fact that she had chosen his Quidditch rival, fellow prefect and an overall girl magnet was an extra kick in the teeth; how could he have ever hoped to compete with that?

"So now you're with Amos you don't mind if we have a go do you?" Felicity Blakely from Ravenclaw asked as both she and a small gaggle of girls squeezed in beside Lily at the Gryffindor table, "It's just with you in the picture none of us had a chance with James and now you're well and truly out of it…well a girl can dream right?" Swallowing a mouthful of toast Lily stared bewildered at her group of friends' eager faces; tempted to ask Felicity to repeat the question just to be sure she'd heard it right.

"Erm…sure?" she replied, "I never knew you-"  
>"Liked James?" Felicity grinned, "Lily you have no idea how many girls do."<p>

"It's just none of us have done anything about it because…well…we thought you might come to your senses and give in." Janie Evergrot, Lily's fellow Gryffindor explained.

"Not that Amos isn't absolutely gorgeous," piped up Emmi Taylor from Hufflepuff, "It's just…well James has that jokiness about him, doesn't he?"  
>"Well not anymore," Amy McGovern, Amos' prefect partner sighed, "He does seem rather gloomy now a days."<br>"Oh it's all for show," Lily said, rolling her eyes as she took another bite of toast, "The only thing he's worried about is how much of an idiot he's made himself look for being so big headed and actually believing that I had any sort of feelings towards him."

"Oh I don't know," Lily's best friend Alice Prewett muttered in a low voice, "Frank told me he won't even joke around with Sirius anymore."

"Oh he's so heartbroken it's adorable!" squealed Janie, "You're so lucky Lily!"

"If you say so," Lily muttered, glancing further down the table to find Sirius dangling a piece of bacon in front of James.

"Just look at him, he's even lost his appetite," Sighed Emmi and all girls turned to stare at James further down the Gryffindor table, "He has the most amazing eyes I've ever seen…"

"Amos' are better," Lily said bluntly, her eyes fixed on the plate in front of her.

"Well of course _**you'd**_ say that," Felicity smirked.

"She's supposed to," Jabbed Amy.

"Look, I've had enough of James Potter," Lily said, irritated, "Can't we talk about something else?"

"Feeling guilty are we?" Joked Alice, receiving an irritated glance from her best friend.  
>"What do you reckon he looks for in a girl?"Amy whispered to the other girls.<p>

"Lily," Alice smirked, biting a large chunk out of Lily's toast and all the girls turned to stare at her causing Lily to elbow Alice in the ribs.

"Look, I'm sure if you make it known you're interested he'd jump on all of you," Lily said bitterly.

"That's a point," said Alice, swallowing her large mouthful.

"What?" Amy asked.

"All of you are interested in James; are all of you going to try it on with him together?" Alice replied and the group of girls looked at each other, the problem only now beginning to rear its ugly head.

"I…never thought of that," said Amy biting her lip, "This could get really messy."  
>"Well then there you go I guess you'll have to forget about it," smirked Lily, "So Janie have you done that essay for Slughorn?"<p>

"We'll have to make a pact!" Felicity exclaimed a flash of Ravenclaw genius in her eyes and Lily groaned.

"What sort of pact?" Janie asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well we're all interested in James right?" said Felicity, "And if anyone's going to end up with James it might as well be one of us; then we'll know whoever does, truly deserves him."

"Pfft," Lily breathed.

"So why not have a little friendly competition?" Felicity continued.

"As in…we allow each of us to make a move on James-"Emmi began.

"With no interfering!" Felicity interjected, "Or else it wouldn't be fair."  
>"With no interfering, "Emmi continued, "And whosoever wins him over…?"<p>

"Get's the prize and an envious pat on the back from the rest of us," Felicity grinned.

"I like this idea," Janie grinned, "So long as we all agree not to jeopardize each others chances or future relationship with James…"

"This is ridiculous," said Lily in awe, "You're all genuinely competing for James Potter?"

"How typical," Amy smirked, "Spoken just like someone who's never had to."  
>"He's not worth it!" Lily insisted, "He's selfish, big headed and annoying; frankly I think you could all do better."<p>

"Uh uh uh! No interfering Lily, remember?" Alice giggled before whispering in her ear, "This is going to be carnage; I love it! Don't mess up my fun."

"What if you all start hating each other over it?" Lily asked, "It's only natural for girls to get jealous and competitive over things like this. All it takes is one massive argument and you'll never speak to each other again."

"Well why would we? We promised no interfering and we can't help it if James likes one of us," Janie shrugged.

"But it's James Potter!" Lily said bewildered.

"Oh we know," Emmi giggled.

"So…all those in favour?" Felicity smirked and all four girls raised their hands with Alice, "Good."

"Alice!" Lily hissed, "Don't encourage them!"

"Oh come on Lily it's only a bit of fun," Alice giggled, "Besides we're all under the pressure of our last year and it's getting pretty boring around here. Let me have some fun…unless…you're jealous?" Lily thumped Alice on the arm in retaliation of her wide grin.

"No I'm not," Lily smirked back at the ridiculous look on her friend's face, "But I suppose this would help get James out of my hair…"

"Exactly," Alice grinned, "You know it makes sense."

"So how will we know who wins?" Janie asked.

"Whoever kisses him first?" Emmi asked.

"No, whoever _**he**_ kisses first; we can't be the one to make a move," Amy replied, "If we do that anyone could steal a kiss from him."

"Good idea," Felicity nodded, "When do we start?"  
>"I don't know about you girls, but I'm ready to go ASAP," Janie giggled.<p>

"Ok, as soon as we leave the Great Hall," Felicity agreed.

"Oh my goodness I'm so excited!" Emmi squealed.

"So am I," mumbled Alice.

"Excited about what?" Came a smooth masculine voice.

"Just a little friendly competition Amos," Lily said hurriedly; she didn't like to talk about James around her boyfriend; it made her feel strangely uneasy.

"Speaking of competition I hear you're playing against James tomorrow," Janie interjected.

"That'll be interesting," Alice mumbled.

"With the amount of times I've had to nudge and hit you this morning, you'd think you'd get the message," Lily whispered and Alice grinned.

"Well we're supposed to," Amos replied uncomfortably, "But I don't think it'd be a fair match. He hasn't really been himself after…well…you know…" The girls nodded and an extremely awkward silence descended over them, causing Lily to jump up from her seat.

"I just remembered that I left Slughorn's essay in my trunk upstairs," She bluffed, trying to ignore Alice's piercing gaze, "I'll see you in a few minutes...good luck with your competition ladies." And with that, Lily bent down and briefly pressed her lips to Amos', trying to ignore Sirius Black's attempt to encourage James to eat something, and left the Great Hall.

"Well then," Said Alice, lifting her goblet of pumpkin juice, "Let the games begin."

_**Author's note: So this idea came from a completely random thought that crossed my mind the other day which was basically 'What if other girls had liked James when he was so obsessed with Lily? Did they try and make a pass at him? After all he was a very popular and attractive lad,' and voila. Hope you like it; I've never had to focus on so many character's before so I'll try not to make it confusing XD As always, please review; you know I love it :D xxx**_


	2. A Slight Hiccough

Sat at the very end of the Gryffindor table, James potter stared forlornly at anywhere other than a certain red head and her gaggle of friends further down. No doubt they were gossiping about the oh-so-wonderful-gorgeous-and recently-taken Amos Diggory.

"What about bacon?" Sirius asked, waving a slice in front of James, "No one can skip out on a bit of bacon."

"I've already told you, I'm not hungry," James replied, irritated.

"Come on mate, you've got to eat something," Sirius sighed.

"I will when I'm hungry."

"But-"  
>"Sirius," came Remus' stern voice from behind the latest copy of the Daily Prophet, "Leave him alone; he won't eat if you force him to."<p>

"Do you realise how long it's been since we've done anything remotely interesting?" Sirius whined at Remus, refusing to lower the slice of bacon, "He just sits there doing nothing all day. Surely that's not healthy?"

"Well I'm sorry if I'm not interesting enough for you anymore, Sirius," James spat, pushing Sirius' handful of bacon away and sighed, "I'm just not in the mood for anything right now…" Holding the neck of his goblet, James twirled the orange liquid within and groaned internally; even the colour of his drink made him think of Lily. Looking up from his pumpkin juice, James caught the worried glance between Remus and Sirius; he couldn't take this scrutiny any longer.

I'm going to potions," He said suddenly, leaping up from the bench.  
>"Ok this is serious!" Sirius said, eyes wide, turning to face Remus, "He's even turning up to lessons on time!"<p>

"We'll come with you if you want?" Remus asked sympathetically, beginning to fold his newspaper away but James just shook his head.

"No, its ok," He said, throwing his bag over his shoulder, "I'll just see you later." And with that James hurried from the Great Hall just in time to see Lily Evans bend down and kiss Amos on the lips. Holding his breath, James hastily turned away and pretended not to have seen a thing; knowing too well that the majority of the Great Hall had their eyes on either himself or the 'lovely couple' and disappeared into the corridor. As soon as James had gone, Remus rolled up his newspaper and struck Sirius across the head with it.

"You are quite possibly the most insensitive person I know," He hissed as Sirius rubbed the back of his head.

"Well he needs to snap out of it!" Sirius replied grumpily, "Sulking over Evans isn't going to help him."  
>"Well waving a piece of bacon in his face and telling him he's turning into a boring waste of space isn't helping either!"<p>

"I was trying to encourage him to do something to take his mind off of things!"

"What are you two bickering about now?" came Alice's rather bored voice as both she and Frank sat opposite them.

"My best mate being a miserable git because of your best mate," Sirius replied bitterly.

"Well don't blame me!" Alice retaliated, picking at James' neglected breakfast muffin, "I can't control who she fancies!"

"We could always slip her a love potion…" Sirius said thoughtfully.

"No," came Alice's stern reply, "Anyway, there's no need for that. As of this morning I know plenty of girls that would give anything to go out with James."

"Really?"

"Mhm," Alice smirked, "Felicity Blakely from Ravenclaw, Janie Evergrot, Emmi Taylor and Amy McGovern from Hufflepuff just to name a few."

"Felicity Blakely?" Sirius exclaimed, "She's-!"

"Tell me about it!" Frank replied enthusiastically, "One time-"

"Don't say anything that will make me hit you…" Alice said sternly and Frank fell silent, "But yes, a lot of girls, _**including**_ Felicity Blakely are interested in _**James**_ and are even competing to be the first to win a kiss."  
>"But then this is easy!" Sirius beamed, "All we have to do is hook him up!"<br>"I don't know if it'll work," Remus said doubtfully, "James has been after Lily for almost seven years; what makes you think he'll give up so soon?"  
>"He's never had his options open has he?" Sirius replied, "Once he knows how much of a girl magnet he is, he's sure to forget about boring old Evans."<br>"Ahem?"

"No offence meant to her of course, Alice…"

"Wait, wait, wait," Frank interjected, "You said 'just to name a few'. How many girls exactly are we talking about here?"  
>"A lot," Alice grinned.<p>

"Well then how do we find-?"

"Oh we don't have to do anything," Alice answered, "They said that their little competition would start as soon as they left the Great Hall...which was just about as soon as James left."

"You mean as soon as he walked out of that door, he fell into the clutches of all those girls?" Sirius said in awe, "What a lucky git…"

"Wait," Remus said pulling out his timetable, "We have potions first with the Slytherin's."  
>"So?" Sirius asked.<p>

"That only leaves Janie Evergrot; she's in Gryffindor with us," Remus explained, "So that means Janie has the upper hand this morning…."

"What's she like?" Frank asked Alice.

"Determined," Alice answered, "Very determined."

Love potion…no love potion….love potion…no love potion…?

Janie Evergrot sat in Slughorn's potions class; the first pupil to enter, she was completely alone and facing a major dilemma. Was the key to James' heart with magic or with plain, simple flirtation and solid a friendship? Then again, he never had any sort of friendship with Lily. Would it even matter if James never truly loved her? As long as she got what she wanted it was all that mattered right? All she needed was a kiss; wouldn't a love potion give her just that? No; it wouldn't be the same if it was all superficial. In order to gain full satisfaction she must completely win him over. After all it was all about the thrill of the chase right?

"No I can't risk it."

Frantically stirring the pinkish liquid, Janie added Ashwinder eggs and moonstone to the mix, the image of Felicity, Emmi or even Amy in the arms of James encouraging her to work faster. She didn't have much time; her fellow classmates would be arriving soon and it wasn't exactly easy to hide a love potion when the colour made it so easily identifiable. Stirring it counter clockwise for the last time, Janie dug out a chocolate frog from the bottom of her bag and prepared a potions needle she had stolen from the store cupboard. Pouring some of the pinkish liquid into the syringe, Janie injected the potion into the squirming chocolate frog before repairing the seal and stuffing it back into her bag.

Suddenly there was a shuffling behind her and she turned to face none other than James Potter standing gingerly in the doorway.

"Oh…" He said a little awkwardly, "I didn't think anyone would be here so early."  
>"Oh I'm not normally," She said hurriedly; she didn't want to seem too enthusiastic towards potions, or any other lesson for that matter, "I just left something here last time and came back to get it." Picking up her cauldron, Janie hurriedly poured the rest of the mixture into a few more vials before rinsing out the cauldron.<p>

"You're making something?" James asked for the sake of small talk.

"Uhh, just a little project Slughorn asked me to do," She replied hurriedly, stashing the vials into her robe pockets before James noticed the garish pink, "I hear you're playing against Amos tomorrow." James froze, his gaze suddenly fixed on the floor.

"Yeah," was his short answer.

"You think we'll beat the Hufflepuffs?" she pressed; it was good being the only Gryffindor in their little competition; it gave her the upper hand siding with James' team when Quidditch was one of his great loves.

"I guess…I hadn't really thought about it."

"Oh," Janie replied, flicking her long wavy brown hair over her shoulder, "I suppose you haven't." Perching elegantly on the end of a desk, Janie dug out two chocolate frogs from her bag, placing the tainted one in her pocket.

"How's that coming along anyway?" She asked, opening the seal of her frog, "With Lily I mean."  
>"Uhh…" James replied, shocked at how abrupt she was, "Well obviously I'm not exactly thrilled about it."<br>"I know how it feels," Janie replied sympathetically, "I've been in exactly the same situation."  
>"You have?" James asked, his interest growing.<p>

"Mhm…" Janie replied biting into her frog, "Chocolate frog?" Digging into her pocket, Janie pulled out the tainted frog and waved it in front of James. Seeing the hesitation in James' eyes she smirked.

"Go on," She insisted, "I can imagine you haven't been eating much; sugar will boost your energy." Smiling a little, James took the chocolate frog.

"And how would you know if I haven't been eating much?" James asked.

"I told you," Janie replied, "I know what it feels like. People trying to make you eat but you don't want to…people looking at you all the time knowing what's wrong but there's nothing they can do…"

Suddenly a small group of Slytherin's entered the room and took their seats, forcing Janie to slide off of the desk and head over to her own space.

"Thanks for the frog," James nodded, and Janie smiled to see him take one satisfying bite out of the chocolate.

"No problem," She smirked and sat at her desk just as Lily Evans took a seat next to her, "Find that essay then?"  
>"Sorry?" Lily asked.<p>

"The essay you ran out of the Great Hall for?" Janie said with a raised eyebrow and Lily blushed slightly.

"Oh…um…yeah I found it in the end…"

Taking a seat next to Sirius, James swallowed his mouthful of chocolate frog, the taste not quite as familiar as before, and took out his text book. Staring at the half eaten chocolate frog in his hand, James let the strangely bitter taste run over his tongue before deciding that he couldn't swallow any more; perhaps he just wasn't in the mood for chocolate.

"Want the rest of this?" he asked Remus.

"What did you do to it?" Remus asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing, I just don't feel like it."

Remus hesitated but took the chocolate from James; resisting chocolate was a near impossible task.

"Righto class!" came Slughorn's booming, enthusiastic voice, "Today we're going to make a Confusing Concoction. Now this is quite difficult to master as the thickness of the potion does take some practice to perfect so if you could…" Suddenly a strange sensation washed over James as Slughorn droned on about the task at hand; a tickling sensation in his chest and a deep longing for the soft chestnut hair of Janie Evergrot. He was suddenly wild with desperation and the need to reach out and touch it. He needed to talk to her, to have her talk to him about absolutely everything that took her fancy, to press his lips to hers, to be by her side constantly. With no control over his legs, he stood suddenly, causing his chair to fall with a crash onto the stone floor of the dungeons and the entire class turned to face him. His own eyes met the desperate green eyes of Lily Evans, but strangely, she needn't have worried about this outburst, as he felt nothing for them or for her and her relationship with Amos Diggory. Instead he turned to Janie, whose own brown eyes seemed slightly wary but a strange excitement seemed to glisten within.

"I love you Janie!" He exclaimed and the room remained in a stunned silence, "I never realised until now how perfect you are for me! You're everything I need! You're everything I want! I don't want to pretend anymore; when I'm with you I feel complete. We're magic together!"

"James mate…what are you…?" Sirius began but he was shortly interrupted.

"NO!" came Remus' cry, "I'm the one who loves you!"

"What?" Came the identical stunned response of both Sirius and Janie.

"He doesn't love you, I do!" Remus insisted, reaching out for her, "Oh Janie, you have the most amazing chocolaty brown hair…"  
>"Keep your hands off of her!" James yelled, slapping Remus' hand away, filling the space between him and Janie.<p>

"Why should I?" Remus asked, coming almost nose to nose with James, fists clenched, "I love her more than you ever could!"

"What the hell is going on here?" Sirius cried, leaping from his chair.

"Now now! Boys boys boys!" Slughorn cried nervously, frantically waving his hands, "Now is not the time to-" But before he could finish, both boys had grabbed hold of each other and were fighting to the death. The class erupted with screams from the girls and cheers from the boys as they egged on the fight; the Slytherin's enjoying it a little too much.

"Oh God stop it!" Janie cried, attempting to pull them apart, "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!"

"Not until he admits that I love you more!" James cried.

"Never!" Remus answered, "Why don't you just stick to Lily? You've been after her long enough!"

"Erm I'd prefer not to be dragged into this thank you!" Lily replied positively shocked; why was James doing this? Was this just an act to make her jealous and Remus was in on it? This was so unlike them both, especially passive, quiet Remus.

"Look!" Sirius yelled, managing to pull the two of them apart, "What the hell is this? You were both fine this morning! What's happened to you both?"

"Have either of you consumed anything out of the ordinary this morning?" Slughorn asked the struggling pair and the colour drained from Janie's face; James must have given some of the chocolate frog to Remus. Why else would he have fought for her like that? Luckily for her, the boys were too busy fighting to reply and were dragged from the room by Sirius.

"Take them to the hospital wing," Slughorn instructed, "I assure you there's a very particular antidote for this type of quarrel…isn't there Janie?"

Janie swallowed and avoided Slughorn's piercing gaze as James and Remus' angry echoes slowly disappeared from the dungeons.

"What did Slughorn mean by that?" Lily whispered when Slughorn returned to the front of the class, but Janie refused to answer.

"Let's just say…I think you're out of the competition, Janie. I doubt the other's will appreciate your method of cheating" Alice smirked, removing a pink vial from Janie's pocket and Lily gasped in realisation, "Bottoms up and all that..."

**Author's note: YES I know I've taken ages, but I'll try to write quicker between exam revision and what not XD I had no idea where this was going when I started this chapter but I hope you like it and that it doesn't ramble too much As always, please review :P Xxx**


	3. Bust Ups And Bruises

"Ow…ow…OW!" James cried as Madame Pomfrey dabbed something onto his split lip.

"Well it's your own fault," She spat, dabbing it on more viciously, "You should know better than to eat something that tasted strange before giving the rest to your friend! Speaking of which, has the potion started to work?"  
>"I don't want to beat him to a pulp anymore if that's what you mean," James explained, "But I'm still thinking about her…"<p>

"How about you?" Madame Pomfrey asked Remus as he dabbed on a potion that rapidly made his black eye disappear on the bed next to them.

"About the same," he replied, "Despite the fact that I still want to be with her all the time."  
>"Well then we'll leave it a little longer," She said, bottling up the liquid she was using on James' lip and heading towards her office, "Try not to do any more damage to each other whilst I'm gone."<p>

Taking the mirror from the bedside table, James closely examined his lip and broken nose, chuckling.

"You have a surprisingly good right hand, Remus."

"Surprisingly?" Remus grinned, "Why surprisingly?"

"For a prefect I mean," James replied, "And a scrawny bookworm."

"Evening ladies" came Sirius' cheesy grin as he re-entered the Hospital Wing, "Still fighting over Janie Evergrot?"  
>"Nah," James answered, "It's wearing off."<br>"I have to admit it was pretty funny," Sirius chuckled, "However…" Holding the pile of books he was carrying high above his head, Sirius let them drop onto the foot of James' bed and smirked.

"Slughorn has instructed me to give these to the both of you," he continued, "We can't have you two missing out on your education now can we?"

"There's no way I'm researching on a Confusing Concoction tonight," James said, glaring at the pile, "I've been confused enough today."  
>"Tell me about it," Remus agreed prodding the now normal coloured flesh around his eye.<p>

"Why on earth Janie decided to spike that frog is another story…" James pondered.

"Isn't it obvious?" Sirius said, "She fancies the pants off of you."  
>"But I hardly ever speak to her!" James said confused.<p>

"Doesn't matter," Sirius shrugged, "Girls are weird like that; how do you think I got most of my girlfriends; surely not by talking to them?"  
>"Git," James smirked.<p>

"It's true, James," Remus agreed, "Alice was telling us this morning about all the girls that told Lily how interested they are now that she's out of the picture." James smirk disappeared instantly; he didn't like the second half of that sentence one bit.

"Yeah well I'm not really interested in other girls…" He said quietly.

"What?" Sirius said in awe, "You're surely not still after Evans?"

"No, I'm not," James replied irritably, "But it's not exactly…easy to think of other girls."  
>"Unless they slip you a love potion," Sirius chuckled, "We need to find you a girlfriend to be jealous over, Remus; I've never seen you so manly."<p>

"Yeah well, I don't exactly plan on accepting anything off of another girl for a long time," James replied as Remus launched a pillow at Sirius, "It was horrible; it felt like you had you watch your back all the time, like you were constantly paranoid. It was almost painful not being immediately close to her."  
>"Weird," Sirius said, picking up the pillow, "I hope I never fall in love. Didn't you think it was strange how she offered you a-"But conversation stopped as Lily Evans entered the room, a small blue bottle in her hand.<p>

"Is Madame Pomfrey still in here?" She asked and Remus pointed to her office. With a nod Lily disappeared into the office and left the boys in silence.

"Ah! Finally! Professor Slughorn gave you that did he?" they heard Madame Pomfrey exclaim from her office, "Well you'll have to give it to him, there's an emergency upstairs; some first year's managed to put a nasty curse on themselves in Defence Against The Dark Arts. Just ask them how they feel about Janie, and, depending on their response, let them go. Remus should be fine; it's James' broken nose I'm worried about. Give him that and he should be fine." Then, hurrying out of her office armed with a smoking green mixture, Madame Pomfrey left the Hospital Wing and headed upstairs.

Sighing, Lily took the blue bottle and stood at the foot of Remus' bed.

"How are you feeling?" She asked him somewhat reluctantly; she couldn't help but feel slightly guilty after knowing Janie's intentions towards James.

"Good," Remus answered, "Can we leave now?"

"Well, _**you **_can," Lily asked before turning to James, "But I have to give you this first, Potter."

"Well come on then Remus," Sirius said quickly, "McGonagall asked me to bring you to her as soon as possible to…to find out why you weren't on patrol."

"But I already-" Remus protested before understanding Sirius' glare, "But uhh…let me…get my books first…" And grabbing the pile from the end of James' bed, the pair hurried out of the Hospital Wing, leaving James and Lily completely alone much to James' disappointment.

"What is it then?" He asked rather bluntly, looking straight into Lily's eyes; he would have loved to know what she was thinking, being alone with him. It was the first time they had been since Lily had started dating Amos due to the fact that they had been avoiding each other.

"Something for your busted nose apparently," She answered finding his gaze fairly uncomfortable. She didn't want to be scrutinized by James Potter; it unsettled her. Perhaps it was the guilt; perhaps it was her intolerance for him; perhaps it was the fact that he had changed; either way, it was strange to feel slightly intimidated in his presence.

"Well thanks for bringing it," James replied and an awkward silence descended on them both.

"Your lip is still bleeding," Lily pointed out and James dabbed it with his finger tip before examining the drop of crimson, "Don't do that, it needs to be clean." Taking the bottle from the side table, Lily poured some onto a piece of cotton wool.

"Here," She mumbled and began to dab at his bottom lip in an attempt to make peace, his top lip accidentally brushing her fingers and an agonizing tickle erupted in the pit of James' stomach.

"I'd rather do it myself," He said, grabbing hold of her wrist, mentally trying to pass off the sudden rush of longing as a side effect of the love potion, "Don't you have a boyfriend to get back to?" Lily stared back at him, the silence stretching in front of them once more and she nodded.

"Yes, I do."

Placing the bottle back onto the table, Lily handed James the blue bottle and he swallowed its contents in one gulp.

"I guess you can go now," James said bluntly, "Now that I've taken Slughorn's potion there's no reason for you to stay here."  
>"James…" Lily sighed, perching on the end of his bed, and James knew she was going to try and talk to him about their situation; she hardly ever strayed from 'Potter' unless she wanted a serious conversation, "Let's not be immature about this."<br>"I'm not being immature, Lily," James answered, using her first name in return, "Why are you even here? Why of all people did you have to bring Slughorn's potion?"  
>"I wanted to talk to you," She answered, "I was thinking…now that you know that we'll never…well you know…maybe we could at least try to be friends? I'd like that. No more bickering, no more immature-"<br>"Remarkably," James interrupted, "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Any particular reason?" Lily asked, a sudden anger bubbling inside of her, "Other than the fact you're being completely childish about all, of this of course."

"Try because I don't particularly enjoy seeing you and Amos together at the best of times let alone if you and I were to suddenly become 'best buds'," James answered bitterly, "Why are you really here, Evans? Are you trying to rub it in or something?"

"Oh forget it," Lily spat, getting up.

"No, go on," James argued, "Did you honestly think I'd leap at the chance to 'just be friends'?"

"Yes!" Lily answered, "Yes I did, because I thought for once in your life you might actually grow up a bit. You're not the first one this has happened to you know. I can't help it if I fancy someone else; there's plenty of people that I've fancied that have gone off with someone else!"  
>"Yeah but you had to pick Diggory!" James retaliated.<p>

"What's wrong with him?"  
>"Nothing!" James answered, "That's the point! He's Mr bloody Perfect isn't he? It's like you specifically picked him just to rub my face in it, knowing that he's my biggest rival!"<br>"Oh for goodness sake!" Lily said with her hands on her hips, "Not everything revolves around Quidditch, James; and for your information, I picked him because I LIKE him. Not because he's your rival, not because it'd annoy you especially, but because I LIKE him; you're so self centred!"

"Self centred?" James laughed in awe, "I'm self centred! Have I said or done anything to either of you since you've been going out? Haven't I been avoiding you all this time? I did all that to give you some space because I knew having me around would make things awkward. I haven't spoken to you in weeks even though you know it kills me, and yet you're the one that kisses Amos right in front of me, you're the one who insists on bringing Slughorn's potion to me when being further away from you makes things just that little bit better and you're the one who unleashed Janie on me to get me off your back!"

"I never knew she was going to do THAT, and even if I did _'unleash her on you'_, could you blame me?" Lily argued, "You haven't exactly done anything to make me want you around. All you've done is shoot me terrible one liners, bully my best friend-"

"Yes well, now you know that your so-called 'best friend' deserved it…" James interrupted and Lily fell silent.

"I'm not going to go into Severus right now," She said quietly.

"Well you brought him up," James said, folding his arms and Lily sighed, the silence stretching in front of them yet again; it was unbearable.

"I can see this is going nowhere," Lily said quietly and standing from his bed, she moved over to the door, placing one hand on the handle.

"I have noticed, by the way, how quiet you've been since Amos and I started going out," She said softly, meeting his gaze, "It's not like I don't appreciate you tolerating us all the time. I just wish things could have been different."  
>"In what way exactly?" James asked, bitterly, "That I'd have showered you in flowers and encouraged you to hang around with a future death eater?"<p>

"Just because he's in Slytherin doesn't mean he's going to be a death eater!" Lily protested.

"Alright, fine," James replied, "Just a follower then…"

"Oh Potter, I hate you!" Lily retaliated almost shaking with anger, "You're so stubborn and narrow minded and self centred and…and...I hate you!" And with that, Lily stormed out of the Hospital Wing wiping hot, angry tears from her eyes.

Falling back onto the bed, exhausted, James took a pillow from the nearest bed and smothered his face with it; why did he always have to argue with Lily when what he really wanted was the complete opposite?

_**Author's note: Sorry it's been a while but here we go! :P As always, please review and I hope you enjoy this chapter xxx**_


	4. Problematic Perfume

Slamming the door behind her, Lily marched into the girl's dormitory and fell face first onto her four poster bed, screaming into a pillow.

"Bad day?" Alice smirked on the bed next to her as she flicked through a text book.

"A little bit," came Lily's muffled reply from the depth of her pillow.

"James Potter getting on your nerves again?" Alice said with mock sympathy.

"Yes," Came Lily's sad voice.

"Want to tell Auntie Alice all about it?" Alice asked, closing her text book and Lily sat up on her bed.

"I offered to take Potter the potion in Slughorn's place after the lesson," Lily confessed.

"Why did you do that?" Alice asked astonished, "I thought you said that you needed to talk to Slughorn about-"  
>"Oh that was just a lie so that the other girls wouldn't know I was going to see him," Lily interrupted, "I wouldn't want them to think I was in on their competition."<br>"I should hope not; not when you have Amos."

"Well anyway, I went to see him and tried to patch things up between us."  
>"In what way?" Alice asked curiously.<p>

"I basically said that just because Amos and I were dating doesn't mean that we can't be civilised and just work on our friendship," Lily shrugged.

"And I'm guessing Potter didn't take that too well," Alice smirked.

"No," Lily spat, "He started insulting Amos and even brought up my situation with Severus."

"And you honestly thought he'd be happy being 'just friends' when he's chased you for so long?"

"Oh I don't know, Alice!" Lily moaned falling back onto her bed, "Why can't things just be simple between us?"  
>"Because then life would be boring?" Alice shrugged before picking up her text book and continuing to read.<p>

"Evening ladies!" came Emmi's soft voice as she entered the room and Alice sighed, folding it away again.

"How did you get in?" Lily asked, "The password changed last week; the Fat Lady's a little annoyed with all the mingling between houses in the common room."

"Remus let me in," Emmi answered, ignoring the latter part of what Lily had said, "I just wanted to ask you both something." Removing a purple bottle from her robes, glittering like a gigantic diamond, Emmi sprayed herself with the contents and leaned towards the other girls.

"Does this smell nice to you?"She asked innocently and the two girls inhaled the scent.

"I spose so," Alice shrugged, "Why?"  
>"Well now that James is leaving the Hospital Wing I thought I'd go cheer him up," Emmi giggled, running a chap stick over her lips.<p>

"Well I doubt he's in a good mood right now," Lily mumbled, replaying their argument in her head.

"Oh I heard the love potion wore off ages ago," Emmi replied, oblivious to the argument and waving away Lily's remark, "Unless of course…after Janie's little stunt you've realised you actually do have feelings for James and are trying to put me off? Not jealous are we, Lily?"

"No!" Lily retaliated, "I have a boyfriend, why would I be jealous?"

"Oh I don't know," Emmi giggled, "Some girls get a bit possessive over boy's who fancy them, that's all. Anyway, wish me luck!"

"Luck," Alice said unenthusiastically, returning to her book and Lily watched her leave with a furrowed brow.

"I do hope Potter doesn't just snog her to get me back for our argument," Lily said, a little concerned and Alice folded her book away again.

"Are you sure you're not jealous Lily?" Alice asked with a raised eyebrow, "You suddenly seem to be taking an interest in Potter since the girls mentioned their infatuation with him this morning…"

"How have I?" Lily demanded.

"Well up until today you hadn't spoken to him since you started dating Amos, and you choose now to patch things up?"

"Oh for goodness sake I'm concerned for Emmi, alright?" Lily snapped, "I just don't want Potter using her to make me jealous…not that he ever could. Anyway shouldn't you be studying?"  
>"Well I am trying to- oh never mind," Alice replied, reclining on her bed with her book once more.<p>

xxx

Hurrying down the staircase, Emmi rushed through the common room before any of the Gryffindor boys came into close contact with her; her experiment had worked. Since Janie had stolen her original idea of concocting a love potion, Emmi had had to think fast. Using the love potion she had made, she had altered it into a perfume that was both effective on boys but smelt perfectly normal to girls. The only problem was that any boy that got a little too close would fall hopelessly in love with her, and after this morning's events, that was a messy outcome.

Darting through the portrait hole, Emmi made her way towards the Hospital Wing, dodging out of the way when the Slytherin Head Boy strolled along the corridor towards her. Holding her breath, Emmi hid in the shadows until he had passed, hoping he didn't come too close. Luckily for her, he turned corner before coming into close contact and Emmi ran down the staircase before it had the chance to change places, straight into the path of Amos Diggory. Catching her before she could fall to the floor, Amos held Emmi upright and she gasped with the impact; this wasn't going to turn out well.

"Whoa!" Amos chuckled as she spun out of his arms hurriedly, "Where are you going in such a rush?"  
>"Um…" Emmi said a little puzzled; maybe her perfume didn't work after all, "The h-hospital wing…I was going to catch James before he left."<p>

"I think he's on his way up; Remus went down to help him earlier," Amos smiled, "Have you seen Lily? I was going to see if she wanted to go for a walk."

"She's in the girl's dormitories," Emmi sighed as she folded her arms, truly disappointed in her perfume, "The password is 'Gillyweed'."

"I see…" Amos said with a furrowed brow, his mind suddenly unfocused and he turned towards Emmi, "Do you want to go for a walk?"

"Me?" Emmi swallowed, her heart sinking, "Why me?"  
>"Because you...smell…really nice," Amos said stupidly, moving slowly towards her, inhaling deeply.<p>

"Oh…d-do you think so?" Emmi said backing away, now wishing that her perfume didn't work at all, "It's um…Lily's new perfume…"

"Lily doesn't smell like that," Amos said shaking his head.

"Uhh…well, like I said, it's new…" Emmi swallowed, backing into a wall, "Why don't you go and see her? I'm sure she won't mind you sniffing her…"

"Let me kiss you?" Amos asked, leaning against the wall so that his arms were either side of her.

"Um…no?" Emmi squeaked.

"I have to," Amos said desperately, "I have to kiss you…"

"You really, really don't," Emmi said shaking, "You have Lily remember?"

"But I want to kiss _you_…"

"Amos I have to get to the Hospital Wing," Emmi said, trying to make herself sound assertive.

"Why?" Amos asked, suddenly angry, "To see Potter?"  
>"Yes," Emmi answered, making herself taller, "To see James; you can come with me if you like."<p>

"I can?" Amos asked, smiling, "Will you let me kiss you there?"

"If you see Madam Pomfrey first," Emmi said innocently and Amos grabbed hold of her wrist, dragging her towards the Hospital Wing. Turning the corner, Emmi caught sight of Remus and James as they made their way back to the Gryffindor common room, Remus helping James with armfuls of Slughorn's books, and she instantly resisted Amos' tugging, hoping that it was enough to get James' attention.

"Emmi?" Remus asked puzzled, stopping immediately when he saw her struggle and James instantly caught sight of the pair.

"What's going on?" He demanded; what was Diggory doing clutching onto Emmi when he already had the only girl James had ever wanted?

"None of your business, Potter," Amos snapped, "She doesn't want to see _you_ ok so why don't you just go back to the common room? She promised to kiss me after we saw madam Pomfrey. I don't remember her promising to kiss you!" James looked at Emmi with a raised eyebrow and Emmi swallowed hard.

"Uh…h-he accidentally ate one of Janie's chocolate frogs," Emmi said hurriedly, "She said she'd kiss him if he'd let me take him to the Hospital Wing."

"That's-!" Amos protested but Emmi clutched him tighter and a look of pure ecstasy spread across his face, silencing him.

"I guess I better help," Remus sighed loading the other half of the books into James' arms, "You've already spent a whole day in the Hospital Wing, James; you better go eat something."

"No it's fine!" Emmi said hurriedly, fearing that Remus would get too close, "I can handle this!"  
>"Nonsense," Remus smiled, "I wouldn't leave you alone when he's…well like this…"<p>

"B-but-"Emmi argued, but it was too late, Remus had grabbed hold of Amos' arm and he was within the danger zone.

"You go on up mate," Remus told James and James nodded, "I won't be long."

"Oh no…" Emmi thought, "Now the same thing's going to happen to Remus and James will know it wasn't a chocolate frog at all!" Ushering Amos into the Hospital Wing, Emmi and Remus threw him onto a bed whilst Madam Pomfrey ambled out of her office.

"Another one," Remus explained and Madame Pomfrey rolled her eyes.

"How many boys is Janie interested in exactly?" She exclaimed and Emmi swallowed as she waited for Remus to do something stupid.

"I think he was an accident," Remus explained, "She managed to trick him into escorting Emmi to the Hospital Wing."

"And she couldn't come herself?" Madame Pomfrey asked Emmi.

"Uh…I think she's a little Embarrassed," Emmi mumbled, "I-I don't mind bringing him here…"

"Well I suppose I better make another antidote," Madame Pomfrey sighed, "I don't suppose you know of any others that could be affected? I don't want to start the process all over again."  
>"Um…well I don't know how many she made," Emmi said anxiously as Amos lay on the bed dazed, without making any attempt to talk to her or to make any movement at all; this was not usual behaviour for someone who had been affected by a love potion.<p>

"I think he's had a bad reaction to it…" Madame Pomfrey said as she too eyed the curious patient, "I better hurry."

Rushing into her office, Madame Pomfrey left Emmi and Remus alone with a silent Amos and Emmi swallowed a lump in her throat; if something bad happened to Amos it would be all her fault, and not only that, it would affect Remus too.

"Remus there's something I have to tell you…" Emmi said as she held back the tears.

"I don't…feel right," Remus said suddenly, a look of utter confusion spreading across his face.

"I…I knew you wouldn't," Emmi began, "Because….because Amos didn't really eat another chocolate frog by accident."  
>"He didn't?" Remus asked, his voice softer than usual.<p>

"No…I sprayed him with-"But before Emmi could finish, Remus had grabbed hold of her and pressed his lips to hers. A sharp noise erupted from the back of Emmi's throat as Remus pushed her against the wall and continued to kiss her with an immense passion. By the time Remus' hands had found her hair, however, Emmi's shock was replaced by a sudden thrill and she matched his pace with her own lips, wrapping her arms around his neck as he threaded his fingers through her golden curls. She didn't know what was going on but she like it a lot. Suddenly an immense pain like a thousand pins stabbing at her wrists and neck, forced Emmi to slide from Remus' grip to the floor, gasping in pain, and to her horror, tiny, thorny vines writhed beneath the first layer of her skin.

"What's wrong?" Remus asked, breathing heavily from their intense kissing, "What's wrong my love? I will save you!" But before he could do anything, Remus froze and fell silent just like Amos.

"What on earth is going on?" Madame Pomfrey shrieked as she caught site of them.

"It's perfume, not a chocolate frog!" Emmi cried, staring horrified at her wrists, "I added extra ingredients to a love potion to turn it into a perfume that only boys could smell! But it's gone wrong! I didn't mean for this to happen!" Hurrying into her office Madame Pomfrey returned with a gloopy yellow substance and smeared a thick layer onto Emmi's wrists and chest.

"It'll sting but it will kill the weed," she said sternly, "This looks like Noxious Crownbeard. Its seeds may smell appealing to men but they are not to make contact with human flesh as their spores are small enough to blossom within the pores of your skin."

"Will it do anything bad to Remus and Amos?" Emmi asked, tears streaming from her eyes from a mixture of guilt and pain.

"No, the scent is designed to trick the victim into picking it as a form of pollination," Madame Pomfrey explained, "It will stun them for a while but nothing else will happen to them." Dragging Remus to the nearest bed, Madame Pomfrey threw him onto the bed covers.

"Poor boy, second time in one day…" She tutted, "You better sit down too; I wouldn't want you doing any more damage to yourself." Nodding, Emmi took the bed next to Remus' and stared curiously at his vacant expression. Maybe for a brief moment she had also been affected by her own love potion, or maybe she had just been caught up in the moment? Either way, with everything to think about and the immense pain in her wrists and chest; it was going to be a long night for all three of them.

**Author's note: I confess when I began writing this chapter absolutely none of this was planned and it all happened spontaneously, so I'm sorry if it seems a bit random but I had fun writing it and hope you enjoyed it Thanks for reading! xxx**


	5. The Plot

"Right ladies," Felicity said, tapping her perfectly groomed fingernails on the glass table in front of her, "I think it's safe to say that after yesterday's events there is to be no tampering with any sort of potion be it a love potion or something to make you beautiful or whatever. Agreed?"  
>"Agreed," the other three replied; Janie and Emmi a little more disgruntled. Due to the nature of the incidents with James Potter, Felicity had taken it upon herself to call a meeting in the Room of Requirement; a secret meeting place the girls had discovered during their early years at Hogwarts when they had been caught in the corridor after hours. The room however, had now changed; sensing the girls had revealed their true feelings towards James to Lily, the walls had now plastered themselves in animated posters of the man himself, much to the girls' delight and unknown to Lily at this moment in time as she of course, was not invited to the meeting.<p>

"Thanks to you two, I'm pretty sure the entire school knows of our attempts to woo James Potter," Felicity continued scornfully, "Do you realise just how many girls are starting to notice how gorgeous he is after all the attention he's been getting? Thanks to each of your little stunts, more and more girls are beginning to compete and you know what that means…"  
>"Less James to go around," Amy sighed woefully.<p>

"Exactly," Felicity nodded, "From now on. No potions, no enchantments, no spells, no magic items and definitely no tainted perfumes."

"It's not like we cheated," Janie spat at Felicity, "The rules were to get James to kiss you first; a love potion would have done that."  
>"Yes but it wouldn't have been genuine," Amy argued.<p>

"Whether it had to be genuine or not wasn't discussed," Janie replied smugly.

"Well either way you didn't get your kiss and he won't look at you twice now," Felicity smirked and the smile disappeared from Janie's face.

"I'm not so sure this is a good idea anymore," Emmi piped up timidly, "We're already arguing and you and Amy haven't; even made a move yet."  
>"I'm biding my time," Felicity answered as she examined her nails, "But you're welcome to pull out if you want to Emmi."<p>

"More for us," Amy giggled and Emmi sighed, reclining in a red sofa by a gigantic winking poster of James Potter.

"I'm not going to pull out," Emmi replied frustrated, staring at the huge poster with mixed feelings of confusion and desire; her kiss with Remus was still very fresh in her mind, "I just think it's a stupid thing to risk our friendship with."

"James Potter is well worth the risk!" Janie said, truly shocked at Emmi's revelation, "And I'm going to rectify our relationship after the frog incident…you'll see."

"Mhm sure," Felicity smirked.

"What about Lily?" Amy asked and Felicity turned to stare at her bewildered.

"What _about _Lily?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You said all of this attention had caused other girls to start to compete," Amy answered, "I was just wondering if Lily was one of them."

"Ha! Not a chance," Janie laughed, "Lily's stuck to Amos like a leech. She was even considering wearing Hufflepuff colours to support him in his match against James this afternoon."

"Really?" Amy asked in awe.

"I don't think we need to worry about Lily," Felicity said calmly, "What we _do_ need to worry about are all these extra girls. Any one of them could take James' fancy."

"Better hurry up and make your move then haven't you?" Janie smirked, reclining in her seat, "Wouldn't want him snapped up by some sixth year before you had your chance."

"Maybe it's already too late," Emmi piped up from underneath the gigantic poster of James, "It's almost breakfast and the extra competition will be swarming all over him before the Quidditch match this afternoon." A small, mischievous smile slowly stretched across Felicity's face and she picked up her quill and parchment, tickling her chin with the white feather of the quill.

"Not if we can help it…"

XXX

Shoving on his Quidditch robes, James stood in front of the bedroom mirror, feeling the most unenthusiastic about a Quidditch match he ever had. Chewing on his bottom lip, James regarded his solemn expression and tried to ignore the awful sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach at the thought that later this afternoon Lily would be rooting for him to lose against her perfect boyfriend. Maybe he could pretend that he was sick? Perhaps he could convince Madam Pomfrey that Janie's love potion hadn't worn off after yesterday? Maybe he could pretend that Remus was still feeling faint and that he had to look after him?

"Coming to breakfast mate?" Sirius asked as he shoved on his school robes.

"I'm not really all that hungry to be honest," James replied.

"Well Remus is still a bit off after yesterday but he said _he'd_ come down," Sirius said, in an attempt to persuade him.

"I'd rather get some extra practice," James insisted.  
>"Oh come on mate," Sirius sighed, "You haven't eaten much in days. I'm surprised you're not like a stick by now!"<p>

"Well-"  
>"Even if you just ate a bit of toast or something; at least then I'd know you're not trying to kill yourself!"<br>"I guess I could-"

"What would your parents say if they found out I'd let you starve yourself to death? Do you want me to live the rest of my life partially responsible for my friend's death because I failed to ram a bit of toast down his neck?"

"Alright, alright I'll come down to breakfast!" James cried, throwing a pillow at Sirius, "You're so bloody dramatic! And I am NOT starving myself!"  
>"Could have fooled me…"<br>"Well maybe I'm just not hungry," James said stubbornly, "If it'll make you feel better I'll eat a bit of toast, but if I throw up on the pitch because you forced me to eat when I wasn't hungry it'll be entirely your fault."  
>"I can live with that."<p>

After making their way down to breakfast, James grabbed a slice of toast and buttered it fiercely in front of Sirius before reluctantly tearing a large chunk out of it with his teeth.

"Happy?" he asked.

"Very," Sirius grinned as Remus took a seat opposite them, "And now James is looking less like a specky Twiglet, how are you Moony?"

"Better I suppose," Remus replied, "I just hope I don't get poisoned by any more girls."

"I hope you do," Sirius grinned, "I've never known you to be that way around girls. I quite like it."  
>"Why?" Remus asked.<br>"Because I realise that perhaps we're not so different," Sirius said proudly, "That there is a little Sirius inside you trying to fight his way through all those novels."  
>"I bloody hope not," Remus replied horrified, "You saw what I was like when I liked a girl. I don't think I could handle angry ones."<p>

"Speaking of angry ones…" Sirius said quietly as Lily entered the Great Hall with her gaggle of girls, strategically choosing a seat the furthest away from the three boys. It annoyed James that he couldn't help but attempt to make eye contact with her despite his desperation not to; luckily for him she wasn't looking in the first place.

"I can't believe you two!" She hissed at Emmi and Janie when had they finally sat down, "Spiked chocolate and now a deadly love perfume? This is getting way out of hand!"

"Oh please," Felicity said, waving away Lily's comment as the other two sank lower into their seats guiltily, "We've already discussed this and we've decided to play nice, besides, no body got hurt permanently."

"That's not the point!" Lily said angrily, "I can't believe you would even do that in the first place! Do you have any sense of morale at all?"  
>"It seems to me Lily, that you're not liking all the attention James has been getting. Not one bit," Felicity smirked, leaning closer, "Jealous are we? Going to have a hissy fit?"<p>

"You know what? I'm sick of this!" Lily argued, "I never had and never will have feelings for James Potter! I can't believe that even going out with Amos hasn't stopped all this nonsense."  
>"Well perhaps if you didn't stick your nose into his business all the time you wouldn't be getting all of this 'nonsense'," Felicity said dangerously low, "Maybe Little Miss Perfect should learn to back off and let the other girls who genuinely do have a thing for James try their hand at it without getting an earful from the girl who messed him around all the time. Besides, I doubt going out with Amos just to stop all the Potter rumours is either a fair or effective strategy."<p>

"How dare y-I didn't mean that!" Lily yelled.

"And here comes the carnage," Alice sighed with her head in her hands.

"Are we in agreement then?" Felicity asked Lily, her eyes fierce, "You stay out of our business with James and we'll stay out of yours with Amos; not that I really care about what you do with your boyfriend or why you're even with him in the first place."

"I'm with him because I like him!" Lily argued, "And being Head Girl, it _is_ my business if you plan on doing anything that will put others at risk!"

"You're not _my_ Head Girl though are you, Lily?" Felicity spat, "Why don't you stick to lecturing your Gryffindor bunch?"

"I'm not going to sit here and take this!" Lily said angrily, standing up, "I'm going to sit with my boyfriend at his table because _I like him_. I'll be cheering for his team despite the fact that I support the other team because _I like him_. And I'm going to spend the entire day with him because _I like him_. James Potter has nothing to do with me, Amos or any other aspect of my life. If you want to put everyone else at risk just for a bit of a fling with him, then be my guest but I won't have anything more to do with it!"

"The question is Lily, if you_ like_ your oh so perfect boyfriend so much, then why didn't you sit with him in the first place?" Felicity asked smugly.

"Because…because I like to divide my time between my friends and my boyfriend!" Lily insisted stubbornly, and with that, she stormed over to the Hufflepuff table, leaving the rest of the girls in an awkward silence. Casually Felicity picked up her goblet of pumpkin juice and watched as Lily squeezed in next to Amos at the Hufflepuff table; the other girls eyeing each other anxiously.

"Yeah as fun as this is" Alice said suddenly, breaking the silence, "I'm going to go find Frank."

"I suppose that's because, like most boyfriends, Frank wonders why you're not spending time with him, unlike Amos," Felicity said smugly and with a raised eyebrow Alice moved further up the table, closer to Frank.

"Well that was tense…" Emmi said, biting her lip.

"Got Miss-Goody-Two-Shoes away though didn't it?" Felicity smirked, taking out the piece of parchment from her robe pocket.

"So what's this ingenious plan of yours then?" Janie asked doubtfully, "You didn't say much when we left you in the Room of Requirement."

"See this list?" Felicity said and the girls nodded, "This list contains the name of every girl that I've heard has an interested in James Potter."  
>"All those?" Amy said in awe, "That's insane!"<p>

"I know," Felicity said spitefully.

"How do we even know the rumours are true though?" Emmi asked, "Half of these girls may not even like James. It's just what's been floating around in the corridors! "

"Even so, I'm not taking the risk," Felicity said assertively, "So I've come up with a plan." Fumbling around in her pocket, Felicity pulled out what looked like a red ribbon with James' portrait in the middle and placed it on the table in front of them.  
>"See these? We're going to hand these out as a form of support for the Gryffindor team," she explained, "We have to make sure that every girl on this list gets one."<br>"What do they do?" Janie asked, examining the rosette closely.

"You'll see," Felicity grinned.  
>"Why can't we know now?" asked Amy nervously.<br>"With the element of surprise on our side the teachers won't expect a thing," Felicity explained.

"Won't it be obvious when we're the only ones that haven't been affected?" Janie asked.

"Or any of the boys," Amy pointed out.

"That's why we're going to wear matching rosettes, but our ones won't have a spell on them," Felicity explained, "That way they can't blame the rosettes."

"A spell?" Emmi asked anxiously, "What kind of spell exactly?"  
>"I told you!" Felicity grinned, "It's all in the element of surprise!"<p>

_**Author's note: AHA! There we go, ending on a cliff hanger; you'll just have to wait and see what the big plan is. Sorry for the long wait but I'll promise to post faster now that it's summer! Hope you liked it an as always please review : )**_


	6. Not So Lucky Charms

Admiring his muscular physique from afar as he combed his hair in front of a large mirror, Lily Evans stared at her boyfriend with her head in her hands. Since her argument with Felicity this morning, she had decided to spend as much time as possible away from the potty-for-Potter clan and instead, had spent the entire morning with Amos. Unfortunately, this had not been the most thrilling of pastimes seeing as he had spent most of their time together conversing solely with the rest of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. It was only to be expected though with the match being this afternoon…wasn't it?

"Excited about the match?" Lily asked cross legged on Amos' bed as he examined himself in his Quidditch robes.

"Not really," He shrugged, adjusting his front, "Just like any other game isn't it?"

"I suppose…" Lily said a little taken aback; James had always been so passionate about Quidditch that he had led her to believe that every player became just as excited as he did before a match. In fact, thinking about it, she really had no idea what Amos was passionate about, if anything at all. The truth was that her argument with Felicity had begun to force her to unintentionally scrutinize her relationship with Amos, and she was quickly discovering that she really knew nothing about him at all. She hated to admit it, but Felicity had a point. Why was it that they never sat together in the Great Hall? Why did she always find herself in her room with Alice or with the other girls rather than occasionally with her boyfriend? She had been so excited and astonished when Amos Diggory of all people had asked her out and completely out of the blue too! It was well known that she had fancied the pants off of him; what girl didn't? He was so friendly with everybody and athletic and good looking and funny; every girls dream. She was lucky to have him…wasn't she?

"Do you think you'll win?" Lily asked, trying to make small talk; now that the Hufflepuff Quidditch team had left them alone it had become increasingly hard to fill in the gaps of silence between them.

"No one can really tell," Amos answered, "It's all down to luck."

"Oh…I thought it was all about skill and tactics?" Lily asked, a little disappointed with his lack of enthusiasm for the game; there was always so much spirit within the Gryffindor team.

"Potter tell you that did he?" Amos chuckled, glancing over his hair in the mirror once again.  
>"Do you think you have a good chance though?" Lily asked, slightly annoyed by the James jab; she didn't expect it to come from someone who should be a little jealous of all the romance rumours.<p>

"Aren't the girls waiting for you?" Amos questioned and Lily felt her heart sink a little by the abrupt change in conversation.

"I thought I'd go down to the pitch with you," She answered quietly; was she bothering him?

"Well I have to get ready with my team," Amos replied, "You'd be on your own."

"I thought you could have visitors before the match?" Lily asked, "Flannigan always has his girlfriend in there with him…"  
>"Yeah," Amos hesitated, "It's a little distracting before the game though."<p>

"Oh," Lily nodded, "Ok." What else was she meant to say to that?

"Maybe you should go and find the girls now?" Amos suggested, "Before they leave? I wouldn't want you sitting alone."

"Alright then…" she replied, standing slowly from his bed, "I'll see you later?"  
>"Depends who wins," Amos answered, "I'll try and get you into the Hufflepuff party if we win; if we don't I guess I won't seeing as I definitely won't get into the Gryffindor one being the number one enemy."<p>

"Right," She replied, a little annoyed by his nonchalant attitude towards casting her aside, "Well…good luck with the game."  
>"Thanks," Amos smiled and placed a tender kiss on her cheek, "My little good luck charm."<p>

"Shut up," Lily smirked but she felt the bitterness of rejection seep through despite the smile, and left the Hufflepuff dormitories in search of the girls she had been trying to avoid.

XXX

"Hogwarts girls are potty for Potter!"

"Grab your rosette to show your appreciation; let him know of our fixation!"

"James Potter he's our man, if he can't do it…I'm still a fan!"

"Grab a rosette for our favourite brunette!"

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Felicity exclaimed, turning to face Amy as each of the four girls carried a box of Felicities rosettes. As soon as the girls had finished breakfast, each had been instructed by Felicity to hand out the ordinary ribbons to the innocent bystanders; the charmed ones of course, she had kept for herself before she crossed out the names on her list.

"James doesn't have brown hair, he has black hair," she argued, "You're chant is wrong."  
>"Well I read that black hair doesn't exist," Amy said in an as-a-matter-of-factly tone, "What looks like black hair is just really, really dark brown hair."<p>

"Well regardless as to whether that's true or not, I'm pretty sure people see it as black," Felicity sighed, "You're going to need a new rhyme."

"Yours doesn't even rhyme!" Amy argued.

"No, but it has word play!"

"What on earth is all this?" Alice asked, as she approached the cheering quartet, arm in arm with Frank Longbottom who appeared to be a little unnerved by the James Potter fan club.

"Want one?" Felicity smirked flashing a crimson rosette at Alice, "Gryffindor support rosettes."

"But you're not even in Gryffindor…" Frank said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes but when it comes down to Gryffindor verses Hufflepuff we're all for them," Felicity explained.

"And what about you two?" Frank asked Amy and Emmi, "You're both from Hufflepuff!"

"James Potter is well worth the betrayal," Amy giggled.

"And you're selling these for how much?" Alice asked in disbelief staring into the four boxes.

"Oh they're free," Felicity explained, "It's all worth it just to see the look on James' face when he sees everyone showing their support."  
>"Right. Good luck with that," Alice grinned, before turning to Frank, "Let's go find a seat; I can't listen to these cheesy chants anymore."<p>

"You'll be surprised by how many girls have them!" Felicity called after her as they disappeared towards the pitch, but neither of them gave any response.

"Are you sure this isn't going to hurt anyone?" Emmi asked anxiously, "Can't you even hint at what the spell is?"

"Like I said Emmi, it's all to do with the element of surprise," Felicity explained.  
>"And what excludes you from this 'no enchanted items rule' we came up with this morning?" Janie asked with a raised eyebrow.<p>

"I'm not being selfish like you were with your chocolate frog," Felicity explained, "This is for all of us. Ahh…wait a second, ladies…" The girls stepped back and Felicity strut between the three of them towards none other than Lily Evans who was hurrying out of the castle towards them looking positively miserable.  
>"Lily!" Felicity said with mock sadness, "I'm really sorry about this morning."<br>"You are?" Lily asked astonished.  
>"Of course I am! I over reacted…I just get a little excited over Potter; I can't help it!" Felicity insisted, "Here…have a rosette."<p>

"Oh…I don't think so," Lily chuckled, "I don't think Amos would appreciate it."  
>"Nonsense!" Felicity exclaimed, "You're team Gryffindor!"<br>"All the same I really think I should support my-"  
>"Well you didn't think I meant just a James rosette did you?" Felicity laughed shrilly with mock amusement, "I have an Amos one too silly!" Reaching inside her box of crimson rosettes, Felicity pulled out a single sunshine yellow ribbon with Amos' portrait along with a scarlet James rosette and handed both to Lily.<p>

"Now you have one for each of them!" Felicity grinned, "I made that one just for you so you wouldn't have to pick a team."  
>"Oh…thank you," Lily said, pleasantly surprised by Felicities thoughtfulness, "That's…really nice of you."<p>

"Oh don't worry about it," Felicity winked, "Tell you what, why don't you and Amy go and grab us some seats? She's run out of chants anyway."

"Alright then…see you in a mo?" Lily asked.

"Later chick," Felicity smirked, blowing a kiss in her direction and Amy departed with Lily towards the pitch, shooting Felicity a very worried glance over her shoulder.

"You didn't just give Lily a rosette from _**your**_ box did you?" Emmi asked.

"So what if I did?" Felicity said with raised eyebrows.

"Those are the enchanted ones!" Emmi gasped.  
>"And Lily is on the list…"<p>

"I thought you said we didn't need to worry about Lily?" Janie replied.

"Well I'm not taking any chances," Felicity said indifferently, "James has always had a thing for her and this will make sure he won't look at her twice."  
>"Felicity you can't just-!" Emmi began but she was shortly interrupted.<p>

"Look, do you want James Potter or don't you?" Felicity demanded.

"To be honest I'm not sure it's worth it anymore!" Emmi argued.

"Give up then!"  
>"Fine!" Emmi yelled, throwing her box of rosettes on the floor, "I will! And I'm going to tell Lily that her rosette is tainted and the she'll-!" But before she could continue there was an eruption of screams from the Quidditch pitch and an odd booming croaking sound.<p>

"What on earth-?" Janie asked but screamed when four of the girls who had grabbed a rosette from Felicities box gave an almighty pop and in their place, stood four warty frogs.

"Urgh! Slimy, ugly things!" Janie panicked, jerking all over the place as to stay out of their way, "This was your big idea? Frogs?"

"That's the oldest spell in the book!" Emmi exclaimed, standing on a nearby bench as to avoid the frogs, "Even muggles joke about that one!"  
>"They weren't meant to do that!" Felicity screamed, batting away one of the frogs with her box of rosettes, "They were meant to give them warts and embarrassing skin problems almost impossible to get rid of to make them look hideous in front of James!" Suddenly a huge mob of both frogs and students came flooding out of the Quidditch pitch, some of them trying to grab a hold of their transformed friends before they hopped off into the Forbidden Forest, others screaming, others trying to prevent people from hitting them fiercely with text books and other objects.<p>

"What on earth were you thinking?" Amy cried when she had caught up with them, holding up a particularly green looking frog, "Look at Lily!" Felicity looked from Amy to the frog in her hand and positively burst out laughing, her shoulders shaking violently much to the annoyance of the others.

"Oh come on, it is funny!" she chuckled as Alice hurried towards them.

"No it's not!" Emmi argued.

"Do you even know how to turn them all back?" Janie asked.

"This was you?" Alice exclaimed, "You did this to Lily and all those other girls!"

"Oh Madame Pomfrey will be able to sort them all out!" Felicity sighed, waving away the problem as Amy struggled to keep hold of Lily.

"You said you made it so that it was almost impossible to get rid of," Emmi replied angrily, "Who knows how long it will take Madame Pomfrey to figure this out! And if it's a complicated potion or spell, people could be waiting days for a cure!"  
>"And it's almost impossible to keep a hold of them!" Amy added, trying to wrap Lily in her cloak, "Some of the teachers have had to go after some of them into the forest!"<p>

"Oh they'll be-" Felicity began but stopped as soon as she saw James, the rest of the Gryffindor team, Remus, Sirius and Frank trying to catch some of the frogs, "You know what maybe we should help catch them."

"You think?" Janie retaliated, rolling her eyes as the five of them hurried towards the pitch, Felicity grabbing the frog nearest to James.

"What are these things?" James asked, casting aside one of the red ribbons now scattered along the grass after the girls' transformations.

"They're rosettes to support the Gryffindor team," Felicity explained with a smile as she purposefully missed one frog in order to clasp hold of James' hand.

"Then why is it only my picture in the middle?" James replied and Felicity giggled.

"You're the favourite," Alice smirked.

"OH MERLIN I HATE THESE THINGS!" Janie squealed as she grabbed hold of a frog and rammed it into her pocket.

"Careful," Sirius smirked, "You don't know who you have in that pocket of yours."

"Why is it that everything seems to be going wrong this week?" Remus pondered.

"Your guess is as good as mine mate," Sirius smirked, winking at Janie as he grabbed hold of her waist as to 'stop her from squishing a frog' that was nowhere near her.

"First the chocolate frog then the…the perfume…" Remus said quietly as his eyes met briefly with Emmi's before she blushed and averted her gaze, "…and now people turning into frogs on the Quidditch pitch."

"Quite a coincidence isn't it?" Alice replied eyeing the other girls who were avoiding everyone else's gaze.

"James Potter!" Came McGonagall's angry bellow, holding one of the rosettes and James groaned.

"Looks like it's going to get even worse," He mumbled, "Yes professor?"

"Come with me please!" she huffed, turning immediately towards the castle, her black cloak fanning out behind her.

"Wish me luck…" James muttered.

"But you didn't even do anything!" Sirius retaliated.

"Yeah but it's my face on these isn't it?" James replied, throwing a rosette to the ground.

"I thought you said the normal ones would fool the teachers?" Janie hissed, "Now James is going to get the stick for it!"

"Well I thought it would work!" Felicity replied, but it was too late to think of anything now; James was in the hands of McGonagall, and when he wouldn't be able to give her any answers, she was going to go looking for people who could…people like Lily.

_**Author's note: Ok so I lied and went away for a week so I couldn't really post this quicker but I am writing the next chapter immediately! Promise! I was going to keep it as one big chapter but thought I'd split it up so I wouldn't get in trouble for taking too long to write this one :S As usual please review xxx**_


	7. The Prince and the Frogs

"Take a seat, Mr Potter," McGonagall instructed, her lips pursed, and James did as he was told. Taking her own seat on the opposite side of the desk, she placed her elbows on the table and pressed her fingertips together, eyeing him through her spectacles. For a moment an awful silence stretched between them as she observed his facial expression and James swallowed anxiously.

"Professor, I didn't-!" he began, but McGonagall raised a hand to silence him.

"I gathered you were innocent from the moment I got my hands on one of these," she replied, raising the rosette in her hand, "It would be foolish for the culprit of this ridiculous prank to put their face on the cause of the problem." Tossing the rosette so that it skidded gracefully to a halt in front of James, she implied for him to glance over the ribbon with a short nod of the head.

"It seems, Mr Potter, that you have quite an avid fan club," she said sternly, "Tainted chocolate, contaminated perfume and now enchanted ribbons, all in the same week."

"I don't understand, Professor," James replied, "Almost all of the Gryffindor girls had a ribbon, and some from other houses. I thought all the girls that had rosettes would have turned into frogs?"

"It seems that a certain number of them purposefully made their way to specific people," McGonagall answered, "Presumably Mr Potter, all those frogs out there are rivalled with whoever tainted these rosettes. The ones that remain human are not a threat."  
>"So…so you're saying…?"<br>"Indeed. Whoever made these rosettes believes that those frogs are infatuated with you." It was in this instant that James had to stop himself from grinning as Sirius' voice erupted in his head with 'Lucky Git!' especially seeing as McGonagall was still trying to keep eye contact.

"Now, I know this must be flattering for you," she continued, her expression still stern, "But I must ask that you be extremely careful. This fan club of yours seems vicious; Mr Lupin and Mr Diggory were lucky that the perfume incident wasn't more serious than it was."  
>"Diggory?" James asked, "Amos Diggory was affected by Emmi's perfume?" That must have been why he and Emmi were acting so strangely in the corridor that night! Wow, that must have been awkward for Emmi to explain to Lily.<br>"Indeed he was Mr Potter," McGonagall answered, "Which just goes to show that these girls don't seem so care who they affect as long as they get what they want."

"I'll be careful professor," James nodded.

"Of course, this does mean that the match has been cancelled for today…despite how much I know you would have been looking forward to it after these…difficult few weeks," McGonagall hesitated, and James knew what she was insinuating. It had been no secret that James was absolutely besotted with Lily, his attempts at wooing her had been as grand and embarrassing enough for the entire school to know.

"I…understand, Professor," he replied quietly; this was an awkward topic for him to be discussing with his head of house, "Is it alright for me to leave now?"

"Not quite yet, Potter," She answered, "There's still the matter of the cure."

"The cure?" James asked, "How can I help?"  
>"To be perfectly honest, you're the only one who can do anything at all. This form of transfiguration requires an old cure…but it's the only one that seems to work."<p>

"What do I have to do?" he asked curiously, "Donate a lock of my hair or something?"

"Actually Potter…you have to kiss them."

"Kiss them?" James gasped, "All of them?"

"All of them."

XXX

Entering the Hospital Wing, James stared longingly at the glorious sunshine spilling in through the large stone windows onto the crisp white hangings; this morning he would never have imagined spending the entire day kissing frogs instead of playing Quidditch.

"Right potter, you sit here…" McGonagall said, steering him by the shoulders onto one of the wooden chairs, "...and I will summon a different frog for you to…well you know what I mean…and then you will place them behind this screen in order for them to get dressed. "

"Get dressed?" James asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well of course Potter; frogs don't wear clothes after all," McGonagall said sternly.

"You…you mean they'll all be…?"

"Please try and control yourself, Mr Potter," McGonagall said, rolling her eyes, "These girls will undoubtedly be embarrassed by the whole affair which is why Madame Pomfrey will be here too providing hospital gowns to dress themselves in and calming beverages for the shock. You are to be mature about this, is that clear?"  
>"Yes Professor."<p>

"There is to be no flirting."  
>"Yes Professor."<p>

"You are to kiss them only once…and it must be on the mouth despite their appearance."  
>"Uh…yes Professor."<br>"And no suggestive comments of any sort."

"Yes Professor."

"Right…are we all set Poppy?"

"Yes Minerva," Madame Pomfrey nodded, heading towards her office to grab a few extra gowns, "Though Merlin knows these fans of Potter's can't be very good with spells seeing as they've all gone terribly wrong so far."  
>"Here's the first one Potter," McGonagall said and with a wave of her wand, a jar containing a single frog appeared in her hand. Unscrewing the lid, she gently tipped the frog into James' hands and the jar vanished within an instant. James eyed the frog, his stomach turning slightly at the sickly green colour, the warts, the slimy sensation against his skin, but remarkably the frog didn't struggle and stared right back at him, and for the first time, James realised that he may actually know the girl in his hands.<p>

"Um…sorry about this," he shrugged and placed a tender kiss on the frog's mouth, ignoring the sticky slimy feeling. Suddenly the frog croaked and began to bubble.

"Put her down!" McGonagall demanded and James quickly did as he was told only for a tiny squeak to sound from behind the screen.

"Wh-what's going on?" came the recognisable voice of Valerie White, a Ravenclaw Slughorn often paired James with in potions class, as the gown draped on top of the screen was hurriedly pulled down.

"Take this," Madame Pomfrey demanded as Valerie tiptoed out from behind, "It'll make you feel better."

"Th-thanks," she mumbled, flushing a little red at the sight of James, her hand absentmindedly reaching for her lips and James didn't know whether to avoid eye contact or not. Once McGonagall had made sure that Valerie wasn't going to throw up or pass out or explode, she ushered her out of the room where one of her friends was waiting to escort her to the girls' dormitories for some 'much needed rest'.

"Ready for the next one Potter?" McGonagall asked and James nodded, taking the next one in his hands. This one was smaller than Valerie had been, with orange blotches on its back. Apologising once again for the awkwardness of the situation, James placed a soft kiss on the frog's slimy mouth and placed it behind the screen. Within an instant, the frog transformed into a fifth year James recognised purely due to the mass of curly ginger hair; this time however, due to the absence of its usual bows and various clips, it was a lot bushier than it normally was. Running her hands over her hair in order to smooth it down purely for James' benefit, she was once again checked by McGonagall and sent on her way, only for the professor to summon yet another frog for James to kiss. Eventually it became clear to James that each frog had strangely adapted certain features that matched its human appearance. For example, Harriet Nelson, a personal favourite of Sirius', had a rather poisonous appearance with a single baby blue streak down her back which matched the colour of her eyes when returned to her human self. Even stranger still, not all of the girls were as easy to cure as the others; some girls became a little queasy after swallowing Madame Pomfrey's potion, and some still kept a green tint when returned to their human selves only to be whisked away into a separate room.

"This is the last one before dinner," McGonagall said finally, handing James a very green looking frog, "Sorry Potter, but we can't have some girls stay as frogs overnight, you're going to have to carry on afterwards."  
>"It's alright, Professor," James sighed, "I understand." Looking at the particularly small frog in his hands, he was struck by the bold emerald green colour of its skin and sighed.<p>

"Sorry about this," He said for what must have been the thousandth time, and kissed the frog tenderly on the lips before placing it behind the screen. Unlike the others, this girl gave a single gasp before falling completely silent, hastily pulling her hospital gown from the top of the screen.

"How are you feeling?" McGonagall asked, her eyes rapidly switching from James to the girl behind the screen, anxiously.

"Fine," came the familiar voice of Lily Evans and James' heart both leapt and sank at the same time. How typical; the only time he'd ever get to kiss Lily Evans and she was a frog. Appearing from behind the screen with her emerald eyes on the floor, she accepted a cup from Madame Pomfrey and sat on one of the beds.

"Do you feel able to go down to dinner or would you rather sleep?" The Professor asked and James found himself staring at the floor.

"I'm really hungry," Lily answered handing Madame Pomfrey the cup, "I'd rather go down to dinner."

"I see...well I didn't ask anyone to come and escort you because I thought Potter would be able to...but..." McGonagall said uncomfortably; she hadn't thought Lily would have been one to wear a James Potter rosette let alone the frog James himself had to escort, "Perhaps Alice would like to-"  
>"It's ok, Professor," Lily replied and James couldn't help but look up in surprise, "I wouldn't want to cause any trouble." McGonagall nodded and Lily slid of the end of the bed in her hospital gown, her red hair, normally tied in a ponytail now loose and ever-so-slightly wavy against her shoulders.<p>

"Potter why don't you escort Miss Evans to wherever she needs to go," McGonagall suggested and James nodded as he followed Lily out of the Hospital Wing and into the corridor. They carried on in an awkward silence until Lily stopped suddenly in front of the grand staircase.

"I want to get dressed before dinner,"she said quietly, "Do you mind?"

"Not at all," James replied, a little surprised that she hadn't planned to ditch him as soon as they were out of McGonagall's sight. With a small smile, Lily nodded her thank you and led the way to the Gryffindor common room with James trailing behind in silence.

"I'm sorry about the Quidditch match," She said suddenly, "I know how passionate you are about it."  
>"I'm sure Amos is equally as disappointed," James replied quietly.<p>

"I don't know..." Lily said almost inaudibly, "I...haven't seen him yet." The pair continued their walk in silence, neither one of them making eye contact with each other along the empty corridors.

"You must be thrilled," Lily said, breaking the silence again, "Not many people can boast having so many fans…especially ones that go to such extremities."

"It's a little creepy if I'm honest," he answered, "I really had no idea about them. McGonagall's told me to watch out for anything and everything; I'm going to miss not having to worry about what I eat or what I touch in case I fall madly in love with somebody I barely know."

"I guess you're just going to have to pick someone then," she replied, "And then they won't have anybody to compete for."

"Do you think so?"

"Well they can't go after you anymore if you're taken," Lily concluded, "Luckily for you, you could have any one you want…"

"You'd think so wouldn't you," James said quietly and Lily fell silent; she wished he wouldn't do that, but then James wasn't the type to pretend everything was perfect between them. Finally reaching the portrait of the Fat Lady, Lily mumbled the password and climbed into the common room.

"I'll wait for you," James said quietly, falling into one of the armchairs and Lily hurried up the stairs into the girls dormitories. Pulling off the hospital gown and changing into her robes, Lily fell face-first onto her bed.

Why did it have to be so difficult? Why couldn't Janie's love potion have worked properly or Emmi's perfumes have caused him to become completely infatuated with other girls? Why did Felicity's rosette have to backfire and turn her into a frog, forcing her to kiss him? Even if she had been turned into a frog that couldn't think or feel like a human being like some of the other girls would have sufficed, but no; she _**had**_ to have questioned her relationship with Amos this morning. All of the girls' attempts at wooing James _**had**_ to fail. She _**had **_to have been turned into a frog that could think and feel just like a human being. A frog that could feel the brief softness of James' lips against hers, possess the ability to recognise who he was despite the transformation, and somehow...still manage to enjoy it a little too much.

_**Author's note: Sorry for the delay, internet problems! I've actually had this on my computer for ages but couldn't put it up This story is really strange for me…normally I have a general gist of what the plot will be but with this one I'm just making it up as I go along so I'm sorry if it's a bit all over the place! Hope you like it, and as always please review! xxx**_


	8. Lovely Things

Tying her hair up in its usual ponytail, Lily brushed aside her sudden flurry of excitement over kissing James Potter, blaming it on the frog potion, and descended the stairs to find him waiting in the same armchair she had left him.

"Ready?" he slurred, sounding almost bored and she nodded. Standing, James headed towards the portrait hole but Lily did not follow.

"Wait," she sighed and James turned to face her, "What's wrong?"

"Wrong?" James asked in a low and uninterested voice.

"This isn't like you," she explained, "You haven't been like you for the past few weeks."

"And what would you know?" James asked irritably, "Since when did you know what was 'like me'?"

"Oh never mind," Lily snapped making her way towards the portrait hole, "I'm not going to have another argument with you."

"Why did you have to start one then?" James demanded.

"Me!" Lily shrieked in disbelief, "I was trying to talk to you! You've been walking around looking absolutely miserable for ages now and I wanted to snap you out of it! It's you that started it!"

"I was heading down to dinner! You were the one who insisted we talk about things when we both know how that always ends."

"Well now I'm finishing it!" Lily yelled, pushing her way past him, "I'm going to dinner."  
>"Not now you're not," James argued grabbing her arm, "If you're going to insist on aggravating me we might as well get everything out whilst we've started."<p>

"Let go of me Potter!"

"Not until you tell me everything," James insisted, "You always do things completely out of character that I don't understand and leave me without an answer!"  
>"What are you talking about?" Lily asked, struggling against his firm grip.<br>"Why is it that when we spoke in the Hospital Wing a few days ago, you wanted to 'become friends' when you had never expressed any interest in doing so before going out with Amos? Why on earth were you wearing a 'James Potter rosette' like some of these crazy fan girls that turned you into a frog? Why did you want me to follow you up here when you could have had people you actually get along with, like Alice or Diggory? Why did you ask me to wait for you to get dressed like you needed to be escorted when the transformation back into a frog had absolutely no affect on you? None of these things make any sense! Why would you insist on me as your escort to McGonagall when you can't stand me?"  
>"I never said I couldn't stand you Potter!" Lily said snatching her arm away.<br>"Yes you have!" James said in disbelief, "You always did whenever we spoke to each other!"  
>"Well, in answer to all of your questions; I grew up!" she argued, "I hated the fact that I was constantly going to have you glaring at me and my boyfriend, so I tried to befriend you; I never liked our constant bickering anyway! I wore a rosette because Felicity insisted I should have one because I should be supporting Gryffindor as well as my boyfriend, NOT because I fancy <em>you<em>. I wanted you to follow me up here under the pretence that I would need escorting so that we would have the opportunity to talk like adults for once, seeing as we're never without your idiot friend, Sirius, mocking us, or my friends swooning over you, and I insisted on you to McGonagall rather than Alice or Amos for the very same reason: to be alone with you. I want to like you, Potter, I really do, but you make things impossible with your permanent negative attitude!"

"_My_ negative attitude!" James asked, "I practically threw myself at you before you started _rubbing gums_ with Diggory! You were the one that shunned me and said horrible things to me whilst I tried to impress you!"  
>"Well like I said, I've grown up since then!" Lily bellowed, "And Amos and I do not 'rub gums', thank you very much. You were always an immature little toe rag that never took anything seriously!"<p>

"And yet you said earlier that you wanted to 'snap me out of' my misery and turn me back to 'normal'. Well I've got news for you, Evans; that is me! I am immature and I am an idiot sometimes and I do say things before I think, but I am what I am. If you hate me so much why do you want to bring me back!"

"Because I miss you!" Lily cried suddenly, hot, angry tears blurring her vision and a silence fell between them, "…despite the fact that you irritate me beyond belief, that you bullied one of my best friends, that I've always said horrible things to you, that you never left me alone…I miss who you were…it's strange seeing you so quiet and empty. You're like a shell of your former self and I hate to think that I did that to you." James stared at her, his expression unreadable, his eyes staring past her into nothing.

"Is this a joke?" he asked finally, "Because if it is, I'm really not in the mood."

"No," Lily spat, wiping away the tears with the back of her hand, "I just want things to go back to the way they were."  
>"Back when we were arguing you mean?" James said quietly, "We're doing it now…not much has changed."<br>"I know, I know…but you never _really_ hated me then even though you said you did, unlike now," She replied and James sighed.

"Evans, you should know by now that hating you is impossible," He said, his voice almost a whisper, "It's just that…unlike then…I wish I did."

"Oh come on, Potter," Lily mumbled, "You can't possibly…feel _that way _about me still? It's always just been a schoolboy crush-"  
>"No it hasn't, Lily!" James argued, "I've tried to tell you that a million times but you never listened! You just brushed it off and insulted me again. You never believed anything I said."<p>

"What is it then?" Lily demanded stubbornly, "Ok so maybe you fancy me then-"  
>"It's more than just fancying someone!"<br>"You can't seriously be telling me you _love_ me, Potter?" Lily asked stunned, although the fear at what James might say next forced it to sound aggressive without her meaning to.

"I don't know!" James yelled, his face flushing, "It's like…well…how do you feel about Amos?"  
>"I'm not telling you that!" Lily answered.<p>

"Why not? I'm telling you how I feel!"  
>"Well…yes but it's about me so you would tell me!"<p>

"Oh!" James exclaimed in frustration, turning away from her and running his hands through his messy brown hair, but before he could stop himself, everything came flooding out, "It's more than a stupid boy crush and it's more than fancying someone! I don't know what it is so I can't call it love; I've only ever felt it with you! I feel like I have to see you everyday or else I get withdrawal symptoms and feel as though nothing will ever make me happy until I do, I think about you all the time and even though you're with Diggory, I still feel like there's some glimmer of hope that you'll feel about me, the way I feel about you, and until that glimmer dies, I can never give up on you no matter how much I want to, and I've tried Lily; I've really tried!"

Lily stared back at James, who was now breathing a little heavier than normal, his cheeks flushed and his eyes alight with some mixture of both passion and fear. The excitement she had felt after feeling the softness of his lips against her slimy green ones was slowly returning after his fervent outburst, and she swallowed hard in a vain attempt to make it go away. Never in a million years had she ever thought James Potter had always possessed serious feelings for her; this whole time she had thought it a continuous practical joke of his or, at the most, some schoolboy crush he had formed after pulling her pigtails in potions class.

"James..." Lily whispered, "I'm sorry that I-"  
>"It doesn't matter now," James spat, his embarrassment colouring his cheeks, "You're with Diggory now…there's nothing I can do." Swallowing hard, Lily nodded, but the strange tickling excitement still gripped her stomach and she bit her lip in order to prevent it controlling her facial features.<p>

"We should go down to dinner," James said finally, breaking the awkward silence between them, "Amos will be wondering where you are."

"I'm not hungry," She said assertively, despite the fact she had told McGonagall earlier on that she was practically starving, "I'd rather stay here."  
>"You should eat something," James insisted, "After everything that's happened today."<p>

"I have a headache," She said softly and James knew that there was no point in arguing; she was stubborn like that.  
>"Can I ask you something, James?" She asked, her still wet green eyes meeting his and James shuddered internally.<p>

"Mmm?" was his answer and he avoided her gaze.

"You always told me that you liked me, but you never gave many reasons for it…" she began, "I just wonder whether you do have any reasons, or if liking me has just become some sort of routine for you. Maybe you don't like me at all…you've just convinced yourself that you do."

"I have my reasons Evans," James sighed, "I'd just rather not embarrass myself any more than I already have by telling you them."  
>"You haven't embarrassed yourself, Potter," Lily said softly, forcing him to meet her gaze, "I actually found what you said quite…lovely."<p>

"Yeah right," James said, breathing a laugh and turning away from her again.

"I wish you'd been like that all the time," she said in a half whisper.

"Why?" James said, sounding annoyed again, "Because things might have been different? You and I both know that's not true."

"Please don't be angry at me again, James," Lily pleaded, "I prefer it when we can talk like this."

"I can't help being angry at you when you say things like that," James said in a strained voice, swallowing his anger, "It's like you're purposefully trying to make me feel miserable."  
>"I don't want to make you feel miserable," Lily sighed, "I can't help…saying things to you."<br>"Why?"James demanded, "Surely you understand how saying things like that hurt-"  
>"I know," Lily interrupted, "But they just sort of…come out when I'm with you, like they're easier to say. You always say lovely things to me when I say these things to you…things you normally wouldn't say."<p>

"Perhaps Amos is who you should be exchanging 'lovely things' with," James said bitterly.

"He doesn't say things…like you do," Lily said quietly and for the first time James noticed a completely different look in those emerald green eyes, a look he thought he'd never see. Suddenly, he found himself leaning in, their faces becoming closer and closer until he could feel her warm breath tickling his face, see the remains of the small teardrops scattered across her lashes, and finally their lips pressed softly together. James watched as Lily's eyes instantly came to a gentle close and slowly their mouths opened together, James sliding his had across her jaw line and into her thick hair as the army of butterflies within his stomach took flight. He was actually kissing Lily Evans. Lily Evans! And she was letting him! Suddenly, realisation kicked in. He was kissing Lily Evans; Lily Evans who had a_ boyfriend_. Retreating instantly, James reluctantly pulled himself away and took several steps back, trying to ignore the horrible sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach at her slightly hurt expression.

"I can't…" He began, but stopping the only kiss he would ever have with Lily Evans made it hard to finish.

"I…I…" she replied, her eyes suddenly full of both embarrassment and fear, "That should never have happened!"

"I know," James mumbled and an awful silence stretched out between them.

"I'm going down to dinner," James said suddenly and Lily mumbled something about still having a headache before he hurried out of the portrait hole without her.

Perhaps her excitement beforehand had nothing to do with Felicity's rosettes after all.

**Author's note: Sorry I haven't posted in ages! I hope you like this chapter; I spent ages trying to build this up so that it didn't feel too rushed, I was just so desperate to write a mushy chapter XD As always please review xxx**


	9. A Nasty Warning

"Well congratulations, Felicity," Janie smirked as she helped herself to a large scoop of mashed potatoes, "Not only have you managed to make it totally obvious to James that nearly every girl in the school fancies the pants off of him, but you've also made it possible for each and every one of those girls to plant one on him too." Felicity glared at Janie through her long, dark eyelashes as she sipped from her goblet of pumpkin juice in silence.

"I knew I never should have got involved in all of this," Emmi sighed, playing absentmindedly with the food on her plate.

"I thought you pulled out?" Felicity spat, her lips pursed as she placed the goblet back on the table.

"I have," Emmi snapped, "But that doesn't stop me feeling guilty about this!"  
>"Shhh!" Felicity hissed glancing nervously around the Great Hall, "Do you want the teachers to find out that we knew about it!"<br>"We didn't just _know _about it Felicity, we DID it!" Emmi argued.

"I knew I should have said something to Lily about the rosette you gave her when I walked off with her," Amy groaned with her head in her hands, "What if she's stuck as a frog forever? Or her skin stays that dreadful, mossy, green colour like Maggie Robinson, and they have to keep her in the Hospital Wing for weeks?

"Oh what's the matter with all of you!" Felicity said, rolling her eyes, "We did what we set out to do, didn't we? So what if James kissed all those girls, the point is that they weren't girls when he kissed them were they? They were frogs! Ugly, slimy, warty things, and now all James can think about when he sees those girls is exactly that."

"They may have been frogs when he kissed them, but when they turned back to normal I bet he didn't think of it like that at all," Janie argued, "There were some really pretty girls we gave those rosettes to."  
>"Not to mention Lily Evans," Amy pointed out, "Imagine his reaction when she turns back to normal in front of him, and he finds out who he's really been snogging."<br>"Oh Lily's obsessed with Diggory," Felicity replied, waving away her remark, "Even if James does get a bit over excited, she's certainly not going to feel the same."

"Are you sure about that?" Janie asked with raised eyebrows, "Because Amos doesn't seem too bothered that his girlfriend's disappeared." The girls glanced over at the Hufflepuff table where Amos and the rest of his Quidditch team sat together, discussing tactics for their rescheduled game against Gryffindor next week.

"Even if he is a bit off, that doesn't mean Lily's no longer interested in _him_," Felicity shrugged.

"Thing is, once James knows she was wearing a rosette with his face on it, he'll start getting all sorts of ideas, and with Lily's boyfriend neglecting her, one thing might lead to another…" Janie replied.

"Let's not jump to conclusions ladies," Felicity said, tossing her hair behind her shoulder, "James has chased Lily for years, what makes this time so different? So Lily gets turned into a frog and suddenly falls head over heels with James, her handsome prince charming?"  
>"Well he's never kissed her before has he?" Amy said, "Maybe this time she-"<br>"Shhh! He's back!" Janie hissed and the girls fell silent as James moved down the Gryffindor table looking rather pale and flustered.

"Well it doesn't look like he had a good time," Felicity said smugly as he finally joined Sirius and Remus, "Those frogs mustn't have been very good kissers."

"He took a long time to come back from the Hospital Wing," Emmi said, glancing over in his direction, "There hasn't been one girl on our rosette list that's returned in over an hour."

"What do you think kept him?" Amy pondered as James stabbed at his food with a blank expression.

"Maybe McGonagall had a go at him or something," Felicity said as she too craned her neck to get a good view of him, "Whatever it was it couldn't have been too pleasant."

"Wait a minute," Janie said suddenly, "Lily hasn't come back yet; does this mean he still hasn't finished with all those frogs?"

"The last person to come back from the Hospital Wing on our list is Jennifer McGovern," Emmi said quietly, "That means there are only a handful of girls left to come back."

"And he came back about an hour after McGovern?" Janie asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Even McGonagall wouldn't keep him an hour into dinner," Felicity said with narrowed eyes, "I have a feeling there's something we're not quite getting here..."

"Where are you going?" Emmi asked as Felicity rose from the table.

"To get some answers."

XXX

Standing in the middle Gryffindor common room, Lily took five steps towards the portrait hole before she stopped and hurriedly retreated back to her original place. She had two choices, to go downstairs to Amos and act like nothing had happened between her and James, or to chicken out and stay upstairs which made things look very suspicious after today's events. Sighing Lily fell into the nearest armchair with her face in her hands. Why did everything have to be so confusing? This morning she had woken up believing that all feelings for James Potter were non-existent and now she felt as though they had been there all along; hidden away like a deep dark secret that even she didn't know about. But then what about Amos and her feelings for him? Did she really like him, was he just a symbol of denial for her feelings for James, or was she just excited at the thought of dating Mr Perfect himself?

"Knock knock," Came a cool, familiar voice and Lily looked up to find Felicity leaning against the portrait hole, examining her finger nails.

"How did you get in?" Lily asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Janie gave me the password," she replied casually, "I was just going to go and get you some stuff from your room; I presumed you'd still be a frog or at least have to stay the night when you didn't turn up to dinner…I wonder what could have kept you up here? "

"I was just…tired," Lily said hurriedly; Felicity couldn't find out about what had happened between her and James.

"Too tired to see your worried friends and boyfriend?" Felicity asked, her expression stony. It was clear to Lily that James' prolonged absence at dinner hadn't gone unnoticed by his fan club; Felicity finding her up here, alone, with her head in her hands, when she too should have been down at dinner, must have looked very suspicious right now.

"Well I wouldn't have been a frog if it weren't for your dodgy rosettes," Lily said coldly, "After this whole James thing you've turned into a completely different person! I can't believe you'd do that to me!"

"It's not my fault that some of the magic from the James rosettes leaked into the Amos one I gave you," Felicity said indifferently.

"Oh don't play dumb with me, Felicity!" Lily snapped, "I know you put it in there on purpose because-"  
>"Because what?" Felicity asked, "Because you broke his heart and therefore you're a threat? I hardly think that's anything to compete over, Lily. In fact, I think that makes you completely out of the picture. None of us feel threatened about competing with you for James' affections, believe me."<p>

"I'm not competing!"

"You know, maybe this is all in your head, did you ever think of that?" Felicity said slyly, "Maybe discovering that James is just as fancied by girls as Diggory is, your shallow little heart has changed its mind? Maybe you want to believe that I purposefully spiked your rosette because you want to prove to yourself, and the rest of us, that you still have a chance with him, and that you can get any man you want."

"How dare-!"  
>"The fact is, Lily, you blew it," Felicity said fiercely, "You humiliated him and broke his heart, and, surprisingly, guys don't find that attractive in a girl!" Lily stared back at Felicity in shock, her heart filled with anger and a lump in her throat. After a pause, Felicity continued quietly, menacingly.<p>

"I'm not going to ask what happened up here between you two, because it would probably break Amos' heart, and I don't want to give you the satisfaction that you had doing that to James-"  
>"You-!"<br>"BUT," Felicity interrupted before Lily could continue, "You should know that you are messing with a very dangerous group of girls, and we don't take kindly to stuck up little heartbreakers and the interference they cause with our plans. It is clear that you kept him up here for some reason…perhaps to talk, perhaps to make a move…but whatever it was, he looked miserable and disgusted…so I just thought save you the embarrassment of trying it again." Lily didn't reply, instead the lump in her throat grew at the thought of James being disgusted with her and the kiss that they had shared; Felicity had to be lying, right?

"Well, I'm going back to the Great Hall to your apparently betrayed friends and boyfriend, seeing as you're still not denying that anything happened between you and James," Felicity said coldly, "I just hope I can keep this a secret from them; who knows how they'll react if they find out?" And, before Lily could retaliate, she disappeared through the portrait hole. Hurt, angry, shocked and terrified, Lily knew one thing was clear; whatever she had to do, however she had to do it; Felicity must not win over James Potter.

Author's note: SORRY I HAVEN'T WRITTEN IN AN AGE! I've moved to a completely new place so I was just settling in and getting myself sorted before I posted anything. I hope you like it and I know it's short but hopefully I won't have such major writer's block next time! xxx


	10. Mr Nice Guy

James placed a tender kiss on yet another frog, watching with disinterest as it morphed slowly into a rather mousy looking fourth year. She squeaked timidly under his gaze and turned a brilliant scarlet before she too was escorted by Madame Pomfrey behind the white screen. After receiving a thorough inspection, she was given a swig of a murky green potion and sent on her way.

"That's the last of them Potter," McGonagall said wearily, strands of hair tumbling from her usually pristine knot, "You better be off to bed now." James nodded and slid off of the end of the hospital bed.

"Unless," she said suddenly, "There's anything you want to discuss."

"Like what?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. McGonagall hesitated and edged ever so slightly closer.

"Are you in perfect health, Potter?" she said, "I've noticed you've been a bit under the weather recently; especially after dinner. Are other students hassling you after these recent attacks?"

"I'd hardly call them attacks prof-"

"You know what I mean, Potter," McGonagall said sternly, "I'm just concerned about your welfare."

"I'm fine, Professor," James insisted, "It's just been a long day and I'm tired, that's all." McGonagall's slow, piercing gaze passed over him, but James' poker face was almost impenetrable.

"Well we _are_ into the early hours of the morning," McGonagall sighed finally, "Goodnight, Potter."

"Goodnight Professor."

XXX

Felicity rolled the crystal vial between her fingers, removing the scarlet lipstick from the inside pocket of her robe. She pulled at the lid of the vial with her teeth until it gave a satisfying pop. Flicking the lid off of the lipstick with her thumb, she poured the pink liquid onto the exposed crimson before placing the empty vial back inside her pocket. Carefully she smeared the tainted cosmetic onto her pursed lips and smacked them together loudly. Now all she had to do was wait. 

XXX

Sliding his fist under his glasses as he strolled back to the common room, James rubbed his eyes and yawned. He was exhausted but he knew he would never be able to sleep after tonight's events with Lily. What would have happened if he didn't pull away? Would she have continued to kiss him? What about Amos? Where did this leave him?

James waited until the revolving staircase came to a halt in front of him and ascended the steps. Turning left into the corridor, his chest hit something warm and soft. Startled, James took a step back and blinked hard in an attempt to focus his tired eyes. Felicity Blakely tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and straightened her robes.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there," she said softly, "These candles don't give much light do they?" She flashed him a dazzling crimson smile and James couldn't help but think how envious Sirius would be if he knew he was alone in a dark corridor with Felicity Blakely.

"No, not really," he said, his exhausted brain failing to come up with something witty, "What are you doing up here anyway?"

"Oh I went to see if Lily was ok, seeing as she didn't come down to dinner," she replied, "Glad to see she's alright after that horrible frog incident."

"McGonagall's on her way to bed; you better take a detour if you don't want to get caught out of bed after hours," James said, trying to avoid all conversation concerning Lily Evans.

"I don't really know any detours," she sighed, "I suppose I better just wait here until she's gone."

"Mrs Norris will probably catch you if you stay here."

"Oh I can handle a cat," she winked, "How are you anyway?"

"Me?" James asked, a little taken aback, "I'm fine."

"Even after all the stuff that's been happening recently?"

"Oh..." with Lily on the brain he'd forgotten all about that for a moment, "Yeah, it's not so bad really. It's kind of flattering I suppose." Felicity gave him another winning smile and stepped closer. Her large blue eyes locked on his and for a brief moment, James felt incredibly shy; she really was beautiful.

"You're a really nice guy aren't you James?" she said softly, "You'd never think badly of anyone would you?"

"Erm-"

"Of course you wouldn't," she breathed, "Even when they've been absolutely horrible to you."

"Who are-"

"I mean, I know Lily's my friend and everything," she continued, stepping closer, "But she's really is awful to you isn't she?"

"Well-"

"And Amos is your biggest rival and you wouldn't say anything bad about him either." She was really close now; James could count each individual eyelash.

"You really are amazing aren't you?" she sighed. Before he knew what was happening, Felicity's lips pressed against his own. A small noise erupted from the back of James' throat and his eyes grew wide behind his glasses. Her lips were soft and she smelled like candyfloss but he grabbed hold of her wrists in an attempt to push her away. Slowly the shock numbed and an odd tickling sensation erupted in his chest. His eyes fell to a close and the kiss grew deeper, his hands losing themselves in her golden hair. Felicity pulled back, her lips plump and slightly smudged as she giggled softly.

"Goodnight," she whispered in his ear, her warm breath tickling his cheek. She walked as if on air down the changing staircase and James remained frozen in the gloomy corridor.

"Wait," he said suddenly and she turned to face him. What was he doing? Felicity raised an elegant brow and rested her arm on the banister.

"Mmm?"

James bit his lip. Felicity's kiss had excited him, and why shouldn't it? He was a teenage boy; this is what teenage boys were meant to do. Kissing in dark corridors was the sort of thing Sirius boasted about all the time. His kiss with Lily had meant nothing. No matter what, she had Amos. Why couldn't he do something for himself for once?

"Do...Do you want to do something tomorrow?" he stammered, "With me I mean."

"Umm," she said, teasing him with a smile, "Sure, why not." James' heart leapt so high that he thought he felt it slam into his rib cage.

"Hogsmeade?" He asked; his mouth was as dry as the Sahara desert.

"Sound good," she said, her voice was as smooth and as rich as caramel, "Meet me in the Great Hall after breakfast." With a wink, Felicity descended the rest of the stairs, leaving James both feeling confused and incredibly excited.

XXX

Reaching the Ravenclaw girls' dormitories, Felicity removed the empty vial from inside her robes and dropped it gently into the draw of her bedside table. Slipping into her nightgown, she pulled the curtains around her four poster bed and slipped under the covers, cuddling her pillow excitably.

"I win."


	11. Goldilocks

"You're going to Hogsmede with WHO?" Sirius hissed over his scrambled eggs.  
>"Felicity Blakely," James smirked, "I knew you'd approve."<br>"How did a specky git like you pull someone like Felicity Blakely?!" Sirius gawped, "I've been working my charm for years and she never even batted an eyelid!"  
>"She said I was a 'nice guy'," James snapped, "I doubt you'd have much chance with your track record."<br>"I'll have you know that girls love bad boys," Sirius said through a mouthful of buttery toast, "It's scientifically proven."  
>"And where, may I ask, did you get that information?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow.<br>"I read it somewhere..._yes_, I _can_ read!" Sirius spat when Remus shot him a disbelieving look. A gentle fluttering hushed the conversation, and a tawny owl dropped the latest issue of the Daily Prophet into Remus' open hand. With a loud clatter, a package landed in Sirius's scrambled eggs on toast and he angrily batted the owl away with his hands.  
>"Bloody birds," he scowled, passing it down the table, "It's not even mine." A large black owl swooped down and gently dropped a role of parchment into James' lap. With a furrowed brow, James unrolled the parchment; he wasn't expecting any mail today. At first James thought the parchment was blank until he noticed a tiny emerald sprawl in the centre.<p>

'Don't trust her.'

After, rereading the parchment over and over again, James passed the scroll to Sirius.  
>"Think I got someone else's mail too," James said as Sirius' eyes passed over the note.<br>"Says your name on the back," Remus pointed out, "What does it say?"  
>"Don't trust her," Sirius replied, "Blimey, do you reckon it's about Blakely?"<br>"Why would it be?" James asked as Sirius handed the note to Remus, "Felicity's great. Don't you think she's great?"  
>"Could be from one of your many admirers," Remus concluded as he studied James with concern, "Probably jealous of your date." James scanned the tables but he failed to find anything out of the ordinary. Swallowing the remains of his tea, he stood and wrapped his red scarf around his neck.<br>"Wish me luck then," he said, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose, "Do I look alright?"  
>"Like a princess," Sirius said fluttering his eyelashes.<br>"Should I bring something? Do you think she likes flowers?"  
>"Erm...why?"<br>"Because it's Felicity Blakely!"  
>"And...?"<br>"Oh never mind," James replied and hurried out of the Great Hall. Remus watched him leave with a raised eyebrow and turned to look at Sirius.  
>"Did he seem a little strange to you?"<p>

* * *

><p>"I don't know about this," Amy sighed, "What if someone finds out?" Lily, Amy, Emmi and Janie ascended the spiral staircase to the Ravenclaw girl's dormitories.<p>

"We've got to do something!" Janie protested, "Do you want Felicity to win, Amy?"  
>"No, I suppose not." Lily removed a small vial from her robe pocket and tipped the contents into a goblet of pumpkin juice on Felicity's bedside table.<br>"Where did you get that?" Emmi asked.  
>"Slughorn," She replied, "I told him I wanted to make a blemish blitzer for a friend of mine so he'd give me the key to the potions cupboard. That's when I swiped the ingredients for the sleeping draught." Swirling the goblet in her hand, Lily placed the pumpkin juice back onto the table and waited for Felicity to emerge from the showers.<br>"Ah the perks of being the teacher's pet," Amy grinned.  
>"We have to spread out," she told the others, ignoring Amy's comment, "This looks too suspicious."<br>"We'll go down for breakfast," Emmi said tugging on Amy's sleeve, "You and Janie have Divination with the Ravenclaws this week right? Just ask to borrow her book or something then come find us." The two girls exited the common room, passing Felicity as she materialized from the girl's bathroom with her blonde curls in a damp towel. Her icy blue eyes passed over Lily as she removed the towel from her hair and reached for her wand.  
>"What do you want?" She said coldly as her wand passed over her hair, turning each strand into a plump and dry spiral.<br>"Can I borrow your Divination textbook?" Janie said sheepishly, "I've lost mine."  
>"Whatever," Felicity replied, swigging at her morning pumpkin juice, "Just get out of here quickly; I need to get ready for my date with..." The goblet slipped through her fingers, spilling the sticky sweet liquid onto the stone floor.<br>"With..." She tried again, but her eyes fluttered to a close and she collapsed backwards onto her four poster bed.  
>"Easy peasy," Lily smirked, plucking a golden strand from Felicity's head and slipping it into a murky green vial, "Watch the door." Janie nodded and stood watch as Lily grimaced and gulped back the thick rancid gunk. She watched as her skin wriggled and bubbled. The colour drained from her fiery red hair and her legs stretched a few inches. Spluttering Lily tapped Janie on the shoulder.<br>"How do I look?" She asked.  
>"Good," Janie smirked, "Really good."<p> 


End file.
